(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Profits at energy giant BP fell 18% last year as it continued to count the cost of the fatal Gulf of Mexico oil platform explosion in 2010, the company announced Tuesday.
In a statement, the company said underlying replacement cost profits at the group were 17.6 billion US dollars (11.2 billion pounds) in the year to December 31 after BP said the cumulative cost of the incident had reached 42.2 billion US dollars (27 billion pounds).
It still needs to settle the bill for civil claims but warned it would only be on "reasonable terms", with the trial scheduled to start later this month.
Profits in its fourth quarter fell by a less-than-expected 20% to four billion US dollars (2.5 billion pounds), despite the group being hit with the biggest fine in US history after agreeing a 4.5 billion US dollar (2.9 billion pounds) penalty with authorities, which it will pay in instalments over five years. Meanwhile, BP said it was still assessing the impact of the terrorist attack at its joint venture in the In Amenas gas site in Algeria last month, but said it was committed to the country, where it has operated for 60 years and intends to resume production when it is safe.
BP said it had reached its target to raise 38 billion US dollars (24 billion pounds) from the sale of assets since the beginning of 2010 a year early. It made 6.8 billion US dollars (4.3 billion pounds) from sell-offs in the fourth quarter, excluding its 50% interest in the Russian TNK-BP venture to Rosneft. In November it sold a range of North Sea oil fields to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, Taqa, in a 1.1 billion US dollar (687 million pounds) deal.
But the sell-offs pushed production in its upstream business 7.1% lower and the group said it would also be lower in 2013, although its expects major projects in Angola, Australia, the Gulf of Mexico and Azerbaijan to come on stream.
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