BP Reinstates Dividend After Profit Increase, Plans to Sell Two Refineries

[Statistical]

BP Plc reinstated the dividend and will sell half of its U.S. refining capacity as Europe’s second- biggest oil company recovers from the Gulf of Mexico spill.

BP set the payout at 7 cents a share for the last three months of 2010, half the level before the spill, after canceling the dividend for the first three quarters. It plans to dispose of its Texas City, Texas, and Carson, California, refineries.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley is making the company “smaller” and “more agile” following the worst spill in U.S. history that cost his predecessor Tony Hayward his job. The company has so far slimmed down by selling $22 billion of assets and agreed to an $8 billion share swap with OAO Rosneft to gain access to untapped Russian reserves in the Arctic.

“The U.S. Gulf of Mexico has presented an opportunity to downsize and refocus on higher upstream returns and improved growth,” said Jason Kenney, an analyst at ING Wholesale Banking in Edinburgh.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-01/bp-reinstates-quarterly-dividend-after-fourth-quarter-profit-increases-30-.html

In the photo at the link it looks like the CEO is "wearing" a green crown.

[rucky]

1. I so happy for their recovery

First they re-covered the oily beach with sand. The Gulf magically re-covered the rest of it itself.
Then they re-covered their asses & their assets.
Now it's paying off.