LONDON (dpa-AFX) - BP Plc (BP.L) on Tuesday reported profit of $2.326 billion in the fourth quarter, higher than $1.358 billion in the same quarter a year ago, on the back of higher oil and gas prices.
Replacement cost (RC) profit increased more than 100% to $1.968 billion in the quarter compared with $825 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Underlying RC profit jumped to $4.065 billion or $1.23 per ADS compared with $115 million or $0.03 per ADS a year ago.
The company said its net debt fell to $30.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, a reduction of $8.3 billion compared to the year-earlier quarter.
Further, BP announced a dividend of 5.46 cents per ordinary share for the fourth quarter, payable in March 2022.
BP said it plans to execute a $1.5 billion share buyback from 2021 surplus cash flow prior to announcing its first quarter 2022 results.
Looking forward, the company expects first-quarter reported upstream production to be lower than fourth-quarter. It also sees product demand to remain impacted by ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 restrictions and continued additive supply shortages in Castrol.
For 2022, BP expects both reported and underlying upstream production to be flat compared with 2021.
BP said its goal of $25 billion of divestment and other proceeds between the second half of 2020 and 2025 is supported by agreed or completed transactions of about $15.5 billion with almost $12.8 billion of proceeds received.
Further, the start-up of Mad Dog Phase 2 is expected in the second half of the year and first gas from the Tangguh expansion project in 2023, the company added.
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