Sagging fuel demand due to lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic is again cutting into volumes and returns at refineries after a recovery last fall, says the CEO for Imperial Oil.

There are currently close to 100,000 inactive wells in the province, which are wells that have stopped producing.

Imperial Oil Ltd. said it has reassessed the long-term development plans of its unconventional natural gas portfolio in Alberta and no longer plans to develop a "significant potion" of those assets.

Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd. confirms it has also reduced the number of contractors it employs by about 450 since the start of the year.

Imperial Oil Ltd. says it will relinquish its contract to provide business management services to Syncrude Canada Ltd. when Suncor Energy Inc. takes over as operator of its oilsands mine.

The CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd. says rising COVID-19 infection numbers have stalled a recovery in demand for vehicle fuels produced in its Canadian refineries from the depths of the pandemic lockdowns in March and April.

The Calgary-based company was forced to shut down the operation, with capacity to produce 240,000 barrels per day of bitumen, a few days after a leak was detected in the Polaris pipeline near Fort McMurray on Aug. 29.

Imperial Oil Ltd. says it has stopped production at its Kearl oilsands mining operation in northern Alberta because of the partial shutdown of the Polaris diluent pipeline following a spill near Fort McMurray.

The CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd. says the company will be cautious in ramping up spending despite a recovery in fuel demand following the collapse earlier this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

"The investment climate is shifting," Trudeau said after Cenovus, Suncor were among those banned from a trillion-dollar investment portfolio.