Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters), BP reported Tuesday a profit for 2021 of $12.8 Billion. This was the most in eight years. The rise in oil prices, and recovery by the global economy from the pandemic, led to a surge in profits.

BP’s (NYSE:) strong recovery following a substantial loss in 2020 was due to the fact that the London-based firm said it would increase its investment on low-carbon, renewable energy.

Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP stated in a statement that “2021 is BP performing as we promised – performing while transforming.”

BP’s underlying profit from replacement costs, which is the company’s definition, was $4.1 Billion in the fourth quarter of 2021. That’s more than the analysts had expected.

This compares to the profit of $3.32 Billion in the third quarter, and $115 Million a year ago.

According to the company, higher oil prices and higher production were the main drivers of the quarterly results. However, lower oil trading results and higher energy costs had an impact on refining operations and led to weaker results.

The world’s natural gas and electricity prices have shot up since last year’s middle due to tight supplies of gas and increased demand after the pandemic.

In the fourth quarter, Asian LNG and benchmark European gas prices reached all-time highs.

For the year, BP reported a profit of $12.85 billion, compared with a loss https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-results-idUSKBN2A20M1 of $5.7 billion in 2020, which came after BP wrote off the value of its oil and gas assets by $6.5 billion amid a slump in energy demand due to the pandemic.

BP’s debt decreased sharply from $8.3billion to $30.6billion by the close of last year.

BP’s dividend was maintained at 5.46 Cents per share.