08:44 AM EDT, 04/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Imperial Oil ( IMO ) on Friday said its first-quarter profit fell 4.3% on lower commodity prices.

The company said it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.23 per share, in the period, down from $1.25 billion, or $2.13, in the year-prior quarter.

Revenue inched up 1.3% to $12.28 billion from $12.12 billion.

The oil producer and refiner, 69.6% owned by Exxon Mobil (XOM), said production from its oil-sands assets in northern Alberta rose to 421,000 barrels per day from 413,000, on higher output from its Kearl oil-sands mine, while its refineries processed 407,000 barrels per day, down from 417,000 bpd a year earlier.

"Imperial's first quarter financial results reflect the strength of our integrated business model as we delivered record first quarter production from Kearl and continued to deliver high utilization rates across our refining network," chief executive Brad Corson said in a release.

Prices for Imperial's bitumen, blended oil and synthetic crude were mixed in the quarter, with oil-sands bitumen pushing higher but synthetic crude weakening.

"Average bitumen realizations increased by $16.23 per barrel, primarily driven by higher marker prices and the narrowing of the WTI/WCS spread. Synthetic crude oil realizations decreased by $8.94 per barrel, due to a weaker Synthetic/WTI spread," the company said.

The company said that in the quarter it returned $278 million to shareholders through dividends, but did not not repurchase any shares. The company declared a $0.60 per share second-quarter dividend, unchanged from the first-quarter, to be paid July 1 to shareholders of record on June 3.

Imperial shares closed up $0.45 to $97.36 on Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.