BP reported Tuesday that fourth quarter profits grew 30 per cent to $5.6 billion US, up from $4.3 billion a year earlier.

BP is trying to sell the Texas oil refinery, shown in March, 2005, where a fire that year killed 15 workers and injured 170 others. (Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)

The company also said it was resuming dividend payouts for the first time since the Gulf of Mexico well disaster and announced plans to sell off almost half of its U.S. refinery business.

The facilities for sale included the Texas City facility where 15 workers died in a massive explosion in 2005. BP was fined $87 million in 2009 for failing to correct safety hazards at the facility.

BP said high oil prices were still not enough to avoid a full-year loss of $3.7 billion, its first since 1992. It earned $16.6 billion over the full year in 2009.

The company also raised to $40.9 billion its estimate for the overall cost of the spill.

The charge covers the cost of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers in April, as well as plugging the well and cleaning up the southern U.S. coast.

BP said the final total "is subject to significant uncertainty."

The company suspended dividends following the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in April.

It will now pay out seven cents per share, or about $1.25 billion over all. That will be half the amount paid in the fourth quarter of 2009.

"We believe now is the right time to resume payment of a dividend to our shareholders," said Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.

"We have chosen a prudent level that reflects the company's strong underlying financial and operating performance but also recognizes the need to fully meet our obligations in the Gulf of Mexico and to maintain financial flexibility."

BP did not say how much it expected to gain from the sale of its U.S. refineries, which it hopes to conclude by the end of 2012, but said it would honor all its obligations stemming from the Texas City disaster.

Cleanup winding down

The company said it also hopes to sell the Carson refinery near Los Angeles along with its marketing business in southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

"2011 will be a year of recovery and consolidation as we implement the changes we have identified to reduce operational risk and meet our commitments arising from the spill," said BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley.

"But it will also be a year in which we have the opportunity to reset the company, adjusting the shape of our business, and focus on growing value for shareholders."

In the Gulf of Mexico, BP said activity has been winding down since no significant volume of oily liquid has been recovered from the Gulf since July 21, and 98.8 percent of the waters formerly closed to fishing had been reopened.

The number of people employed on the cleanup had dropped from 20,000 to about 6,200, BP said.

As of this weekend, about 91,000 people and businesses had filed for final settlements of claims from the $20 billion fund, administered by Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg.

With files from The Associated Press