( Adds talk about possible impairments, 2021 capital budget, crude by rail)
July 31 (Reuters) – Canadian integrated energy company Imperial Oil Ltd posted a second-straight quarterly loss on Friday, struck by lower crude rates and refining margins as the COVID-19 pandemic dented demand for fuel and associated items.
The coronavirus break out resulted in the grounding of flights and brought economies to a standstill, injuring demand for fuel and forcing producers to execute widespread output cuts.
Imperial, majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp, stated its refineries throughput averaged 278,000 barrels daily, 19%lower than last year, with total usage at 66%in the quarter.
Rates for the company’s U.S. crude fell 53.5%to $2783 per barrel, while Canadian crude costs dropped about 66%from year-ago levels to $1673 per barrel.
The business stated it expected lower recognized prices for its items to lead to significantly lower earnings and money created from operations than in 2019, unless conditions improve significantly in the latter half of the year.
It said it might need to book problems charges on its long-life possessions depending on the result of a continuous review.
Next year’s capital budget plan is most likely to be similar to 2020’s, of C$ 1.1 billion to C$ 1.2 billion, as unpredictability about the pandemic stays, Chief Executive Brad Corson said on a teleconference.
The business, typically a major rail carrier, moved none of its own crude on trains during the quarter, but sees a possible boost by year-end, Corson stated.
Imperial’s average production for the quarter fell 13.3%to 347,000 barrels of oil comparable each day due to arranged shutdowns of its Kearl and Syncrude centers.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company published a loss of C$526 million ($39186 million), or 72 Canadian cents per share, for the second quarter, compared with a profit of C$ 1.21 billion, or C$ 1.57 per share, in 2015.
$ 1 = 1.3423 Canadian dollars
Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru and Rod Nickel in
Winnipeg; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Richard Chang
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