(BP) Oil giant British Petroleum posted a net profit of $4.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, more than an estimated $3.9 billion.
The company’s underlying replacement cost profit, which is a proxy for net profit, rose to $12.8 billion in FY21 compared to a net loss of $5.7 billion in the previous year. The profit was higher than the expected $12.5 billion.
BP CEO Bernard Looney says it was a good quarter for the company, with the robust earnings emanating from soaring gas prices in the final months of the year, while oil has hit seven-year highs.
BP says it repurchased $1.725 billion shares in the fourth quarter and intends to execute additional $1.5 billion buybacks from 2021 surplus cash flow before the first quarter 2022 results.
The company announced a 5.46 cents per ordinary share dividend in the fourth quarter, payable in March 2022.
BP also cut its net debt to $30.6 billion by the end of 2021, from $38.9 billion in the comparable period of 2020.
BP: NYSE is up +0.63% on premarket.
