BP reported a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profits last Tuesday partly due to weakness in its refining business but offset by strong contributions from its stake in Russia's Rosnef. BP reported underlying replacement cost profit of $2.8 billion for the fourth quarter of 2013, 28 percent lower than the same period a year ago. BP, still dealing with the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said the provision to cover the spill's clean-up, fines, compensation and legal costs had now risen to $42.7 billion from $42.5 billion last year. BP said the fall in its earnings was partly due to its shrinking asset base, but also hurt by difficult conditions in its refining business, which is comparatively much smaller after it sold two major refineries in the U.S. last year. In its downstream business, BP posted underlying pretax replacement cost profit of $70 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $1.4 billion in the same period in 2012. Costs associated with the start-up of the Whiting refinery, also in the U.S., and exploration write-offs were partially offset by higher earnings from Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil company. Rosneft, into which BP folded its Russian business last year in exchange for a 19.75 percent stake, delivered $1.1 billion of BP's profits.

Neste Oil reported comparable operating profit for the full year of EUR 604 (US$821) million, an increase of 70% compared to the EUR 355 million reported in 2012. Neste Oil's revenue for the full year 2013 totaled EUR 17,462 million (vs. 17,853 million). Neste Oil reported revenue of EUR 4,604 million in the fourth quarter, virtually unchanged from that during the last quarter of 2012 (EUR 4,597 million). For the fourth quarter, the Group's comparable operating profit came in at EUR 164 million vs. comparable operating profit for the corresponding period in 2012 of EUR 77 million. The Renewable Fuels segment recorded a significant improvement in comparable operating profit year-on-year, increasing to EUR 273 million from -56 million in 2012. For the fourth-quarter Renewable Fuels' comparable operating profit was EUR 94 million compared to -2 million during the same period in 2012.