BP (BP.US) stock fell more than 6% after the U.K.-based oil giant reported disappointing fourth-quarter profit and posted a $5.7 billion annual loss for 2020, its first in a decade. BP results were affected by the low demand caused by the pandemic. Company also warned of a difficult start to 2021 amid widespread travel restrictions. “Tough quarter, clearly, at the end of a really tough year,” BP Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday. “The full-year results were hit hard by Covid.”
However BP is confident that cash flow will increase amid higher oil and gas prices, especially as it ramps up production in large assets such as Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan and Ghazeer in Oman, Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss said in an interview.