Imperial Oil CEO says he is encouraged on the Pathways agreement

Ottawa and Alberta

Oil Sands Alliance members have set a Nov 15 target for binding agreements with Ottawa and Alberta on the Pathways carbon storage project, a condition for the Pacific Link pipeline to the West Coast.

"There's still a lot of work left to do," CEO John Whelan told analysts, but he said he remains "really encouraged about where we are".

Pathways would carry captured carbon dioxide from oilsands sites to a storage hub near Cold Lake, Alberta, with capacity for about six million tonnes a year by the mid-2030s. That is a scale-back from the 22 million tonnes of emissions by 2030 the parties had earlier targeted.

Imperial's third-quarter profit

2.45 $ billion

Imperial reported a third-quarter profit of $2.45 billion, up from $539 million a year earlier, boosted by higher oil prices.