BP profits down 22% to £8.76bn

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The company lost long-serving head Lord Browne - who resigned last May after lying to a court in a bid to block stories about his private life - and has faced criticism over the March 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery, where 15 workers died.

Its results contrast with rival Royal Dutch Shell, which last week posted record profits of almost £14 billion.

BP has also struggled with lower margins and production problems with its US refineries, which sent its refining and marketing operation to a fourth-quarter loss of 1.34 billion US dollars (£678.7m).

The group's underlying fourth-quarter profits of 4 billion US dollars (£2.02bn) came in well below consensus forecasts of 4.3 billion US dollars (£2.17bn).

Chief executive Tony Hayward described BP's profits performance in the final three months of last year as "very disappointing in refining and marketing in particular".

But Mr Hayward also announced a 25% increase in the oil giant's quarterly dividend to reflect the company's "increasingly robust view of the future".

While soaring oil prices hit profits at refining and marketing, they also helped boost earnings from the firm's exploration and production division by 51% to 7.65 billion US dollars (£3.87bn).

The group began production from five major projects in Angola, Trinidad and the Gulf of Mexico, and enjoyed exploration successes in Azerbaijan and Egypt.

Over the year, BP produced 3.82 million barrels a day of oil - just inside its forecasts of between 3.8 and 3.9 million.