Miscellaneous financial information

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

12. Miscellaneous financial information

In 2019, net income included an

after-tax

loss

of $22 million (2018 – $16 million gain, 2017 – $5 million gain) attributable to the effect of changes in

last-in,

first-out

(LIFO) inventories. The replacement cost of inventories was estimated to exceed their LIFO carrying values at December 31, 2019 by about $1.2 billion (2018 – $0.9 billion).

Inventories of crude oil and products at

year-end

consisted of the following:


millions of Canadian dollars	2019		2018
Crude oil		764		731
Petroleum products		396		473
Chemical products		64		72
Other		72		21
Total inventories of crude oil and products		1,296		1,297

Research expenditures are mainly spent on developing technologies to improve bitumen recovery, reduce costs and reduce the environmental impact of upstream operations, including technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity, supporting environmental and process improvements in the refineries, as well as accessing ExxonMobil’s research worldwide.

The company has scientific research agreements with affiliates

of ExxonMobil, which provide for technical and engineering work to be performed by all parties, the exchange of technical information and the assignment and licencing of patents, and patent rights. These agreements provide mutual access to scientific and operating data related to nearly

every phase of the petroleum and petrochemical operations of the parties.

Net research and development costs charged to expenses in 2019 were $133 million (2018 – $110 million, 2017 – $111 million). These costs are included in expenses due to the uncertainty of future benefits.

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities included accrued taxes other than income taxes of $397 million at December 31, 2019 (2018 – $413 million).