Business Segments (Detail) - CAD ($) $ in Millions		12 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Revenues and other income
Revenues	[1],[2]	$ 37,508	$ 22,284	$ 34,002
Intersegment sales	[3]	0
Investment and other income (note 8)		82	104	99
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES, INTERSEGMENT SALES, INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME		37,590	22,388	34,101
Expenses
Exploration (note 15)		32	13	47
Purchases of crude oil and products (b) (note 11)	[3],[4]	23,174	13,293	20,946
Production and manufacturing (note 11)	[5]	6,316	5,535	6,520
Selling and general	[5]	784	741	900
Federal excise tax and fuel charge		1,928	1,736	1,808
Depreciation and depletion (note 11)	[6]	1,977	3,293	1,598
Non-service pension and postretirement benefit		42	121	143
Financing (note 12)	[7],[8]	54	64	93
Total expenses		34,307	24,796	32,055
Income (loss) before income taxes (note 11)		3,283	(2,408)	2,046
Income tax expense (benefit) (note 3)	[9],[10]	804	(551)	(154)
Net income (loss) (note 11)		2,479	(1,857)	2,200
Cash flows from (used in) operating activities	[3]	5,476	798	4,429
Capital and exploration expenditures	[11]	1,140	874	1,814
Property, plant and equipment Cost		56,762	55,771	54,868
Accumulated depreciation and depletion		(25,522)	(23,737)	(20,665)
Net property, plant and equipment	[12]	31,240	32,034	34,203
Total assets	[3],[13],[14]	40,782	38,031	42,187
Consolidation, Eliminations
Revenues and other income
Revenues	[2]	0
Intersegment sales	[3]	(14,795)	(4,172)	(5,589)
Investment and other income (note 8)		0
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES, INTERSEGMENT SALES, INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME		(14,795)	(4,172)	(5,589)
Expenses
Exploration (note 15)		0
Purchases of crude oil and products (b) (note 11)	[3]	(14,789)	(4,167)	(5,581)
Production and manufacturing (note 11)		0
Selling and general		(6)	(5)	(8)
Federal excise tax and fuel charge		0
Depreciation and depletion (note 11)	[6]	0
Non-service pension and postretirement benefit		0
Financing (note 12)		0
Total expenses		(14,795)	(4,172)	(5,589)
Income (loss) before income taxes (note 11)		0
Income tax expense (benefit) (note 3)	[10]	0
Net income (loss) (note 11)		0
Cash flows from (used in) operating activities	[3]	10	(8)	(7)
Capital and exploration expenditures	[11]	0
Property, plant and equipment Cost		0
Accumulated depreciation and depletion		0
Net property, plant and equipment	[12]	0
Total assets	[3],[13],[14]	(249)	(398)	(498)
Upstream
Revenues and other income
Revenues	[2]	5,863	6,263	9,479
Intersegment sales	[3]	9,956	2,527	3,763
Investment and other income (note 8)		12	7	17
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES, INTERSEGMENT SALES, INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME		15,831	8,797	13,259
Expenses
Exploration (note 15)		32	13	47
Purchases of crude oil and products (b) (note 11)	[3]	7,492	4,834	6,528
Production and manufacturing (note 11)		4,661	3,852	4,440
Selling and general		0
Federal excise tax and fuel charge		0
Depreciation and depletion (note 11)	[6]	1,775	3,084	1,374
Non-service pension and postretirement benefit		0
Financing (note 12)		15	3	3
Total expenses		13,975	11,786	12,392
Income (loss) before income taxes (note 11)		1,856	(2,989)	867
Income tax expense (benefit) (note 3)	[10]	461	(671)	(481)
Net income (loss) (note 11)		1,395	(2,318)	1,348
Cash flows from (used in) operating activities	[3]	4,913	286	2,423
Capital and exploration expenditures	[11]	632	561	1,248
Property, plant and equipment Cost		48,200	47,693	47,050
Accumulated depreciation and depletion		(20,389)	(18,786)	(15,889)
Net property, plant and equipment	[12]	27,811	28,907	31,161
Total assets	[3],[13],[14]	29,416	31,835	34,554
Downstream
Revenues and other income
Revenues	[2]	30,207	15,178	23,591
Intersegment sales	[3]	4,520	1,480	1,597
Investment and other income (note 8)		59	78	47
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES, INTERSEGMENT SALES, INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME		34,786	16,736	25,235
Expenses
Exploration (note 15)		0
Purchases of crude oil and products (b) (note 11)	[3]	29,505	12,047	19,332
Production and manufacturing (note 11)		1,445	1,468	1,829
Selling and general		572	619	774
Federal excise tax and fuel charge		1,928	1,736	1,808
Depreciation and depletion (note 11)	[6]	158	166	186
Non-service pension and postretirement benefit		0
Financing (note 12)		0
Total expenses		33,608	16,036	23,929
Income (loss) before income taxes (note 11)		1,178	700	1,306
Income tax expense (benefit) (note 3)	[10]	283	147	345
Net income (loss) (note 11)		895	553	961
Cash flows from (used in) operating activities	[3]	179	470	1,965
Capital and exploration expenditures	[11]	476	251	484
Property, plant and equipment Cost		6,772	6,321	6,123
Accumulated depreciation and depletion		(4,096)	(3,962)	(3,830)
Net property, plant and equipment	[12]	2,676	2,359	2,293
Total assets	[3],[13],[14]	7,945	4,554	5,179
Chemical
Revenues and other income
Revenues	[2]	1,438	843	932
Intersegment sales	[3]	319	165	229
Investment and other income (note 8)		1
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES, INTERSEGMENT SALES, INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME		1,758	1,008	1,161
Expenses
Exploration (note 15)		0
Purchases of crude oil and products (b) (note 11)	[3]	966	579	667
Production and manufacturing (note 11)		210	215	251
Selling and general		90	92	86
Federal excise tax and fuel charge		0
Depreciation and depletion (note 11)	[6]	18	19	16
Non-service pension and postretirement benefit		0
Financing (note 12)		0
Total expenses		1,284	905	1,020
Income (loss) before income taxes (note 11)		474	103	141
Income tax expense (benefit) (note 3)	[10]	113	25	33
Net income (loss) (note 11)		361	78	108
Cash flows from (used in) operating activities	[3]	421	114	172
Capital and exploration expenditures	[11]	8	21	34
Property, plant and equipment Cost		984	975	954
Accumulated depreciation and depletion		(721)	(699)	(680)
Net property, plant and equipment	[12]	263	276	274
Total assets	[3],[13],[14]	474	408	416
Corporate and Other
Revenues and other income
Revenues	[2]	0
Intersegment sales	[3]	0
Investment and other income (note 8)		10	19	35
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES, INTERSEGMENT SALES, INVESTMENT AND OTHER INCOME		10	19	35
Expenses
Exploration (note 15)		0
Purchases of crude oil and products (b) (note 11)	[3]	0
Production and manufacturing (note 11)		0
Selling and general		128	35	48
Federal excise tax and fuel charge		0
Depreciation and depletion (note 11)	[6]	26	24	22
Non-service pension and postretirement benefit		42	121	143
Financing (note 12)		39	61	90
Total expenses		235	241	303
Income (loss) before income taxes (note 11)		(225)	(222)	(268)
Income tax expense (benefit) (note 3)	[10]	(53)	(52)	(51)
Net income (loss) (note 11)		(172)	(170)	(217)
Cash flows from (used in) operating activities	[3]	(47)	(64)	(124)
Capital and exploration expenditures	[11]	24	41	48
Property, plant and equipment Cost		806	782	741
Accumulated depreciation and depletion		(316)	(290)	(266)
Net property, plant and equipment	[12]	490	492	475
Total assets	[3],[13],[14]	$ 3,196	$ 1,632	$ 2,536

[1] Amounts from related parties included in revenues, (note 16). 8,777 5,107 8,569

[2] Includes export sales to the United States of $7,228 million (2020 - $4,614 million, 2019 - $7,190 million). Export sales to the United States were recorded in all operating segments, with the largest effects in the Upstream segment.

[3] In 2021, the Downstream segment acquired a portion of Upstream crude inventory for $444 million. There was no earnings impact and the effects of this transaction have been eliminated for consolidation purposes.

[4] Amounts to related parties included in purchases of crude oil and products, (note 16). 2,737 2,484 3,305

[5] Amounts to related parties included in production and manufacturing, and selling and general expenses, (note 16). 420 579 628.

[6] In 2020, the Upstream segment included a non-cash impairment charge of $1,531 million, before-tax, related to the company’s decision not to further develop a significant portion of its unconventional portfolio.

[7] Amounts to related parties included in financing, (note 16).28 61 98

[8] The weighted average interest rate on short-term borrowings in 2021 was 0.2 percent (2020 – 0.8 percent, 2019 – 1.8 percent). Average effective rate on the long-term borrowings with ExxonMobil in 2021 was 0.6 percent (2020 – 1.4 percent, 2019 – 2.2 percent).

[9] On June 28, 2019 the Alberta government enacted a 4 percent decrease in the provincial tax rate, from 12 percent to 8 percent by 2022. On December 9, 2020 the Alberta government enacted an accelerated decrease in the province’s general corporate income tax rate from 10 percent to 8 percent, effective July 1, 2020. The cumulative effect of the 2020 legislative tax changes on the company’s financial statements were immaterial.

[10] Segment results in 2019 include a largely non-cash favourable impact of $662 million associated with the Alberta corporate income tax rate decrease, with the largest impact in the Upstream segment.

[11] Capital and exploration expenditures (CAPEX) include exploration expenses, additions to property, plant and equipment, additions to finance leases, additional investments and acquisitions and the company’s share of similar costs for equity companies. CAPEX excludes the purchase of carbon emission credits.

[12] Includes property, plant and equipment under construction of $2,348 million (2020 - $1,874 million, 2019 - $2,149 million).

[13] Effective January 1, 2019, Imperial adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s standard, Leases (Topic 842), as amended. As at December 31, 2021, Total assets include operating lease right of use assets of $245 million (2020 - $188 million, 2019 - $260 million). An election was made not to restate prior periods. See note 13 for additional details.

[14] In 2019, the company removed $570 million from Total assets and corresponding liabilities in the Downstream segment associated with the Government of Ontario’s revocation of its cap and trade legislation.