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The oil giant revealed that it made a replacement cost profit of $4.4 billion (£2.76 billion) in the three months to December, with oil and gas production rising.
This was lower than analysts had expected, with a poll of nine experts conducted by Reuters showing that a figure of $4.65 billion had been anticipated.
Shares in the company dropped as a result and were down 29.3p at 14:40 GMT, taking them to 565.3p and making the company one of the biggest losers on the FTSE today.
Despite the disappointing results, group chief executive Tony Hayward said BP had a "very good" 2009 as a whole.
"These results provide the clearest demonstration of the progress we have made and the momentum we have established," he remarked.
Posted by Chris Weaver
