BP takes profit hit from oil spill clean-up

BP profits fell 2% to £3.32bn in Q1 2011, as the oil giant sold assets to pay for the clean-up operation from last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Production for the quarter was 11% lower than a year earlier and offset a further rise in oil prices over the period, the Press Association reports.

The asset sale has been taking place to meet the £25bn cost of the clean-up operation following the explosion on April 20 2010, which killed 11 men and caused the biggest offshore oil leak in history.

BP restored its quarterly dividend when it last updated the market in February and said today it would pay seven cents a share to investors in June for Q1.

The catastrophe in the Gulf caused BP to plunge to its first full-year loss in 20 years in 2010.

It also prompted the oil giant to temporarily suspend its dividend, which accounted for one pound in every six invested by pension schemes. The group's share price is still about a third lower than it was before the disaster.