BP says annual net profit slides to USD 4.0bn in 2019

British energy giant BP on Tuesday said annual net profit slid to USD 4.0 billion last year, hit by weaker oil prices, as long-time chief executive Bob Dudley bowed out.

The figure was down sharply compared with profit after tax of $9.38 billion in 2018, the company said in a statement marking the end of American Dudley's time at the helm.

It was announced in October that Bernard Looney, head of BP's upstream division, would replace Dudley.

"After almost ten years, this is now my last quarter as CEO," Dudley said in Tuesday's statement.

"In that time, we have achieved a huge amount together and I am proud to be handing over a safer and stronger BP to Bernard and his team.

"I am confident that under their leadership, BP will continue to successfully navigate the rapidly-changing energy landscape," he added.

In the latter years of Dudley's reign, BP increasingly moved into cleaner energies, mirroring the strategy of rivals like Royal Dutch Shell and Total, amid changing public attitudes and government policies towards carbon emissions and climate change.

BP snapped up Britain's largest electric vehicle charging firm Chargemaster in 2018, as it bets on booming demand for electric cars in the coming decades.

The company predicts that renewable sources could account for 15 per cent of global energy consumption by 2040.

Dudley spent a total of 40 years with BP, while Irish national Looney joined the group in 1991 as a drilling engineer, rising to lead its upstream division that comprises exploration and production.