Imperial Oil Ltd. raised its quarterly dividend by nearly 30 per cent as it reported its third-quarter profit more than doubled compared with a year ago.

The company, which also says it plans to buy back up to $1.5 billion worth of its shares, will now pay a quarterly dividend of 44 cents per share, up from its previous dividend of 34 cents per share.

The increased payment to shareholders came as Imperial said its net income totalled $2.03 billion or $3.24 per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from a profit of $908 million or $1.29 per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue and other income totalled $15.22 billion, up from $10.23 billion in the third quarter of 2021.

The company says upstream production in the third quarter averaged 430,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day compared with 435,000 in the same quarter last year.

In its downstream business, Imperial says quarterly refining throughput averaged 426,000 barrels per day, up from 404,000 in the third quarter of 2021, as capacity utilization hit 100 per cent compared with 94 per cent a year earlier.