Calgary-based Imperial Oil has announced plans to cut about 900 jobs, or 20% of its work force, by the end of 2027, in search of “substantial efficiency and effectiveness benefits”.
Most of the jobs will be lost in Calgary, where the company has had its head office since 2004, CBC News reports. Most of Imperial’s remaining Calgary employees will be transferred to its Strathcona refinery in Edmonton.
Imperial, the ExxonMobil subsidiary that once employed former prime minister Stephen Harper’s father, said in a release Monday that it would spend $330 million in restructuring costs to save $150 million per year by 2028. The company took in $949 million in profit in the three months ending June 30, down from $1.13 billion during the same quarter in 2024.
“We recognize the considerable impact this restructuring will have on our employees and their families,” spokesperson Lisa Schmidt told CBC in a statement. “We are committed to supporting our employees through this transition.”
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said he was “deeply disappointed” by the announcement, but maintained the Carney government is still “laser-focused on building new major energy projects, supporting energy workers, and unlocking new export markets for our resources so we can become an energy superpower.”
Richard Masson, executive fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy, told CBC the job cuts are “more about a bigger trend about trying to be more efficient by taking advantage of technology” than “a comment on the oil market or Imperial’s outlook in Canada.”
“Costs are always being reduced in this business,” he said. “So it’s nothing out of the normal. It’s just a rather big lump all at one time.”
But Imperial’s news landed on the same day that French oil and gas giant TotalÉnergies announced that it, too, was cutting US$7.5 billion in spending by 2030. And, unlike Masson, the Financial Times attributed the decision to low global oil prices.
“With many banks and energy experts forecasting that excess supply could push crude prices down to $50 a barrel or lower next year, oil companies including Chevron and BP have already begun cutting jobs,” the Times wrote. “Some, including Italy’s Eni, are reducing capital spending. :
Earlier this month, the Times reported that the global industry was facing down a “flashing red warning light” and firing thousands of workers as analysts projected several years of low oil prices. The news landed just as Canadians learned that a new oil pipeline would not be included in the federal government’s first list of national interest projects that would be prioritized for approval.
“The world’s biggest oil and gas companies are cutting jobs, slashing costs, and scaling back investments at the fastest pace since the coronavirus market collapse,” the Times said at the time. “Spending plans have been reined in, with some projects paused or put up for sale as groups seek to balance the books.”
A week later, the International Energy Agency warned that the global industry is “running faster to stand still” and will need $500 billion in annual investment through 2050 just to replace its losses from wells that are being depleted.
Last month, the Calgary-based Pembina Institute calculated that Canada’s oil and gas sector created 43% fewer jobs per thousand barrels of production in 2023 compared to 2012, undercutting its own status as a job creator or economic engine for the country.
