The booth of UK energy giant BP at an industrial expo in Shanghai. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

LONDON – British Petroleum (BP) plunged to a US$5.7 billion loss last year, its first in a decade, as the pandemic took a heavy toll on oil demand, with fuel consumption continuing to slide so far this year amid global travel restrictions.

For the last quarter of 2020, BP reported a profit of US$115 million, falling short of analysts’ forecasts due to weak oil and gas sales and subdued trading, it said on Tuesday.

BP’s shares have lost over 40 percent of their value over the past year and remain near 25-year lows, battered by concerns over oil demand due to the pandemic as well as investors' doubts over BP’s ability to successfully carry out its an ambitious plan to shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy

“These results reflect a truly tough quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss said in a statement.

At 0815 GMT, BP shares were down 3.2 percent at 258.9 pence (US$3.549).

“We expect renewed COVID-19 restrictions to have a greater impact on product demand, with January retail volumes down by around 20 percent year on year, compared with a decline of 11 percent in the fourth quarter,” BP said.

Oil demand is nevertheless expected to recover in 2021, the company said.

According to the company's data, BP's 2020 profits were hit hard by a collapse in oil and gas prices.

Tighter global natural gas markets are expected to further support profits, it said, although it saw coronavirus-related restrictions weighing on refined products demand in the first quarter.

Adjusted profit at BP’s downstream – or refining and marketing – business in the fourth quarter collapsed to US$126 million, less than a tenth of what it was a year earlier.

BP’s shares have lost over 40 percent of their value over the past year and remain near 25-year lows, battered by concerns over oil demand due to the pandemic as well as investors' doubts over BP’s ability to successfully carry out its an ambitious plan to shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Rivals including Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have also seen their market capitalization sink in recent months

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BP’s overall fourth-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, its definition of net income, of US$115 million fell short of the US$360 million seen in a company-provided poll of analysts.

That compared with an US$86 million profit in the third quarter and a profit of US$2.6 billion a year earlier.

For the year, BP reported an underlying loss of US$5.69 billion, compared with a profit of US$10 billion in 2019.

BP's quaterly profit saw a signficant plunge in the second quarter last year, with more than USD6,000 million loss, according to BP's statistics.

BP’s debt pile of US$39 billion is expected to rise in the first half of this year as it continues to struggle with a weak business environment, but the company said it remained on track to reduce it to US$35 billion by early 2021.

At that debt level, BP plans to start share buybacks.

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BP’s dividend remained at US$5.25 cents per share.