Imperial Oil says fewer than 100 Sarnia jobs are expected to be affected by the company’s decision to move some of its technology and lab operations to Houston.
Article content
Reuters previously reported that Imperial’s owner, Exxon Mobil Corp., plans to cut as many as 300 positions in Canada as part of an ongoing cost-cutting plan.
Article content
This type of news “is never good,” said Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.
“We’re watching layoffs in a lot of sectors, and unfortunately this is a part of that.”
“I try to be positive,” he added, noting new jobs were created locally recently with the opening of a new Nova Chemicals plant in St. Clair Township and an Origin Materials plant in Sarnia.
“This is why we started the (Western Sarnia-Lambton) research park 30 years ago because the companies – the big ones, including Imperial – were cutting the research all the time and we knew we had to fill the gap,” he said.
“Imperial has completed a strategic evaluation of its technology and lab operations currently conducted at company-operated facilities in Sarnia and Calgary,” the company said in a statement.
Article content
“As a result. . . , the majority of technology and engineering activities supported by the Sarnia Technology Applications & Research Center will be relocated to a new consolidated research hub in Houston operated by ExxonMobil.”
The company is “leveraging its relationship with ExxonMobil to increase benefits of scale and efficiencies,” Imperial Oil said.
“As a result, Imperial plans to relocate some of its technology and lab operations work to Houston over the next few years.”
Imperial founded the first oil and gas research facility in Canada more than a century about and its “commitment to research and technology has not changed, and the company will continue to invest in industry-leading innovation to enhance environmental performance, production efficiency and product quality ,” he said.
Oil producers, including Exxon, have been slashing costs due to a collapse in oil demand and ill-timed bets on new projects. The top US oil company had earlier outlined more than US$10 billion in budget cuts this year.
Imperial Oil’s Sarnia site, which includes a refinery, chemical plant and research center, employs about 1,000 workers, according to its website.
The company has had a presence in Sarnia since the 1890s.
With files from Reuters
Share this article in your social network