This is a legitimate question. I think I know the answer, but I want to see if there’s anything I’m unaware of before making the obvious conclusion.
Layoffs in Europe I get. We probably won’t own any assets there for much longer anyways, and I’ll be surprised if the continent hasn’t regulated every bit of heavy industry out of business by 2030.
Singapore I get. It’s been a money pit. High cost energy plus the cost of importing all feeds and exporting all products does not make for good performance in a commodity sector.
I feel for all of my colleagues in these locations. It’s not your fault this is happening, but I can understand why the company would do this.
But why Canada?
A quick discussion with ChatGPT shows me Imperial made between $4.5-7.3 billion yearly since 2022. Yes, refining margins were pretty good over that period, but I don’t see anything in the top line numbers to suggest our Canadian business is in dire straits. So why are we laying off 20% of the company?
I don’t know what functions sit in Calgary. Tax? Engineering? The inescapable conclusion is we hit a critical mass of people at KLTC and BTC that we thought could do their jobs and decided to rip the bandaid off.
Assuming that’s true, why wouldn’t I expect the EXACT SAME thing to happen to the US in a couple years? Aside, of course, from our CEO telling us the US is off limits (lmao).