December 16, 2025 [Reuters]- Canada’s Imperial Oil said on Monday it plans to increase capital spending and upstream production in 2026 as it doubles down on higher-return oil sands projects, aiming to lower costs and generate stronger cash flow.

Oil companies have been tightening spending and focusing on efficiency as oil prices soften, prioritizing high-return projects and reliability improvements over large new developments.

The oil producer had said in September it would cut about 20% of its workforce by end-2027 as part of a restructuring that will scale back its Calgary presence, amid weaker crude prices from higher OPEC+ output and trade policy uncertainty.

“Our 2026 plan builds on Imperial’s strong foundation and positions the company to structurally increase cash flow, by progressing towards volume and unit cash cost targets at Kearl and Cold Lake,” said CEO John Whelan. Imperial, which operates major oil sands assets in Canada, including Cold Lake, Kearl and Syncrude, sees its capital and exploration expenditures for 2026 between C$ 2.0 billion and C$2.2 billion, up from C$1.9 billion to C$2.1 billion estimated for this year. The company forecast 2026 upstream production in the range of 441,000 to 460,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 433,000 and 456,000 boepd it forecast for 2025. However, it expects throughput to be between 395,000 and 405,000 barrels per day in the downstream front, down from 405,000 and 415,000 barrels per day, dragged down by planned turnaround activity at its Sarnia and Strathcona refineries.