From CBC.ca – Feb 1, 2011

BP reported Tuesday that fourth quarter profits grew 30 per cent to $5.6 billion US, up from $4.3 billion a year earlier.

The company also said it was resuming dividend payouts for the first
time since the Gulf of Mexico well disaster and announced plans to sell
off almost half of its U.S. refinery business.

The facilities for sale included the Texas City facility where 15
workers died in a massive explosion in 2005. BP was fined $87 million in
2009 for failing to correct safety hazards at the facility.

BP said high oil prices were still not enough to avoid a full-year
loss of $3.7 billion, its first since 1992. It earned $16.6 billion over
the full year in 2009.

The company also raised to $40.9 billion its estimate for the overall cost of the spill.

The charge covers the cost of the explosion aboard the Deepwater
Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers in April, as well as plugging the
well and cleaning up the southern U.S. coast.

BP said the final total “is subject to significant uncertainty.”

The company suspended dividends following the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in April.

It will now pay out seven cents per share, or about $1.25 billion
over all. That will be half the amount paid in the fourth quarter of
2009.

“We believe now is the right time to resume payment of a dividend to our shareholders,” said Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.

“We have chosen a prudent level that reflects the company’s strong
underlying financial and operating performance but also recognizes the
need to fully meet our obligations in the Gulf of Mexico and to maintain
financial flexibility.”

BP did not say how much it expected to gain from the sale of its U.S.
refineries, which it hopes to conclude by the end of 2012, but said it
would honor all its obligations stemming from the Texas City disaster.

Cleanup winding down

The
company said it also hopes to sell the Carson refinery near Los Angeles
along with its marketing business in southern California, Arizona and
Nevada.

“2011 will be a year of recovery and consolidation as we implement
the changes we have identified to reduce operational risk and meet our
commitments arising from the spill,” said BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley.

“But it will also be a year in which we have the opportunity to reset
the company, adjusting the shape of our business, and focus on growing
value for shareholders.”