Oil giant British Petroleum (BP) Tuesday reported a profit rise of 39 per cent in 2008 to 25.6 billion dollars despite a sharp drop in profits in the last quarter, reported dpa.
For the last three months of 2008, BP's replacement cost profit was 2.58 billion dollars, down 24 per cent from a year earlier and 74 per cent lower than the previous quarter.
Oil prices hit an all-time high of 147 dollars a barrel in July, but have since fallen back sharply to about 40 dollars this week.
Last week, BP's rival, Royal Dutch Shell, announced 2008 profits of 31.4 billion dollars, a rise of 14 per cent over 2007.