Imperial Oil reports $271M fourth quarter profit, down from $853M a year ago

Imperial Oil Ltd. reported a fourth-quarter profit of $271 million, down from $853 million in the same quarter last year.

The company says the profit amounted to 36 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of $1.08 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue and other income totalled $8.16 billion for the quarter, up from $7.89 billion.

Profit at the company's downstream operations totalled $225 million compared with $1.14 billion a year earlier due to lower margins and planned turnaround activities.

However, profit at Imperial's upstream operations amounted to $96 million in the quarter compared with a loss of $310 million in the final quarter of 2018.

Production averaged 398,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day in the quarter, compared with 431,000 barrels per day in the same period of 2018.