BP Q4 profits dragged down by divestment program and continuing costs of Gulf of Mexico spill
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BP says its fourth-quarter profits fell by nearly a third as the company felt the impact of asset sales following the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
Net income dropped 30 percent to $1.04 billion from $1.49 billion in the same quarter the year before.
The company says Tuesday that a number of factors were behind the decline including lower refining markets and costs related to new projects and investments.
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The Gulf of Mexico spill continues to eat into profits. The aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster cut pretax profit by $189 million in the quarter and $469 million over the year.
Profits were also impacted by the divestment program that followed the spill.
For the year as a whole, profit more than doubled to $23.5 billion from $11 billion.