Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - European oil giant BP PLC. posted lower fourth-quarter 2013 profit attributable to BP shareholders of USD1.04 billion, or USD5.54 a share, versus last year's USD1.49 billion, or USD7.75 a share, with pre-tax profit plunging year-over-year to USD1.199 billion, from USD3.3 billion.
For the quarter, replacement cost or RC profit attributable to BP ordinary shareholders totaled USD1.51 billion, down from USD2.0 billion reported in the 2012 period. After adjusting for a net charge for non-operating items of USD1.0 billion and net unfavourable fair value accounting effects of USD299 million, underlying replacement cost profit fell to USD2.81 billion, from USD3.9 billion last year, affected by the significant impact of BP's major divestment programme; weaker refining margins; and higher depreciation and exploration write-offs as the group brought new projects online and increased its investment in exploration.
The impacts of these were partially offset by strong growth in underlying oil and gas production, particularly from key regions such as the North Sea, Angola and Gulf of Mexico. The company said the fourth quarter's result also benefitted from higher earnings from Rosneft than reported from TNK-BP in the 2012 fourth quarter.
Quarterly sales and other operating revenues were USD93.72 billion, compared with USD93.91 billion a year earlier.
Looking ahead, BP anticipates underlying production in 2014 to be higher than 2013. However, reported production is expected to be lower, reflecting both divestments and a reduction of around 140 thousand boe/d due to the expiry in January of the Abu Dhabi onshore concession.
Additionally, the firm announced a quarterly dividend of 9.5 cents per ordinary share, or USD0.57 per ADS, which is expected to be paid on March 28, 2014. The corresponding amount in sterling would be announced on March 17, 2014.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
