By Jenny Strasburg
LONDON–BP PLC became the latest oil giant to post record annual profit last year, joining peers on both sides of the Atlantic in capitalizing on soaring energy prices.
The London-based company said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter underlying replacement-cost profit, a metric similar to net income that U.S. oil companies report, was $4.8 billion. That slightly lagged the $5 billion forecast in a consensus estimate of 28 analysts compiled by the company, and compared with $4 billion in the year-prior period.
BP’s full-year profit was $27.7 billion by the same measure, compared with almost $13 billion for 2021 when BP swung back from early Covid-19 pandemic losses.
The result brings to more than $159 billion for the combined historic profits reported so far for 2022 by the biggest Western oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Shell PLC.
Write to Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com
