Profits at energy giant BP fell 18% as it continued to count the cost of the fatal Gulf of Mexico oil platform explosion in 2010.
Underlying replacement cost profits at the group reached $17.6 billion in the year to December 31, after BP said the cumulative cost of the incident had reached $42.2bn.
The company still needs to settle the bill for civil claims, but warned it would only be on “reasonable terms”, with a trial scheduled to start later this month.
Profits in its fourth quarter fell by a less-than-expected 20% to $4bn, despite the group being hit with the biggest fine in US history after agreeing a $4.5bn penalty with authorities, which it will pay in instalments over five years.
BP was still assessing the impact of the terrorist attack at its joint venture in the In Amenas gas site in Algeria in January, but said it was committed to the country, where it has operated for 60 years, and intends to resume production when it is safe.
The company said it had reached a target to raise $38bn from the sale of assets a year early. It made $6.8bn from sell-offs in the fourth quarter, excluding the disposal of its 50% interest in the Russian TNK-BP venture to Rosneft.
In November, BP sold a range of North Sea oil fields to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, Taqa, in a $1.1bn deal.
But the sell-offs pushed production in its upstream business 7.1% lower, and the group said it would be even lower in 2013, although it expects major projects in Angola, Australia, the Gulf of Mexico and Azerbaijan to come on-stream.
Nonetheless, the firm increased its dividend for the quarter to nine cents bringing the total to 33c for the year, an uplift of around 18%.
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said that while BP had made much progress during the full year, it was still “far from being out of the woods”.
“Despite having disposed of $38bn of assets to cover the known costs of the Macondo spill, the spectre of the impending trial casts a long shadow on prospects,” he said.
But Sam Wahab, analyst at Seymour Pierce, said: “Following a difficult period for the company, we are beginning to see a resolution to BP’s various legal issues following Macondo.
“Investors may believe that this places the company in a robust financial position ahead of a significant year of upstream activity.”