LONDON (MarketWatch) — British oil giant BP PLC reported a 30% rise in fourth-quarter profit Tuesday, and announced it will resume paying a quarterly dividend and sell half its refining capacity in the U.S. as it reshapes its business in the wake of the worst oil spill in American history.

BP BP, -0.76% (BP.), which suspended payouts after the Gulf of Mexico spill to help cover the cleanup and legal costs of the disaster, announced a dividend of 7 cents a share for the fourth quarter.

The move was widely expected, though the dividend is only half what BP paid before the incident.

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“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 chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement.

BP said it intends to increase the dividend as its circumstances improve. The loss of BP’s dividend was sharply felt by U.K. pension funds last year, as it has long accounted for a large chunk of the total payout by FTSE 100 companies.

“Investors will be pleased to see the resumption of dividend payments by BP. The stock is a staple in the portfolios of pension funds and individual investors and in a world of low interest rates the loss of BP’s dividend was a major blow to many,” said Neil Atkinson, director of research and analysis at Datamonitor.

Fourth-quarter net profit at Europe’s second-biggest oil firm rose to $5.57 billion from $4.30 billion earned in the same period a year ago.

BP’s latest quarterly results included a $1 billion pretax charge related to the Gulf spill, taking total charges booked for the year to $40.9 billion.

Adjusted replacement cost profit, which strips out one-time items and changes in the oil price, came in at $4.36 billion, which fell short of analysts’ expectations of $4.87 billion, according to a poll conducted by Dow Jones Newswires.

Revenue improved 14% to $83.99 billion despite a 9% year-on-year decline in total oil and gas production.

BP returned to a profit in the third quarter, but it posted a loss of $3.7 billion for 2010, its first in nearly 20 years, as a consequence of the spill. In contrast, BP had a profit of $16.6 billion in 2009.

BP shares closed up 1.3% in London. The stock is not back to its pre-spill level but has recovered 60% from its July low.

BP will sell two U.S. refineries

In order to foot the bill for the accident, BP earlier this year launched a divestment program that will see it sell up to $30 billion of assets, mainly in its upstream business.

BP said Tuesday that disposal proceeds reached $17 billion in 2010 and that it plans to deliver around $13 billion of further proceeds in 2011.

BP also announced plans to sell the Texas City and Carson refineries in the U.S. Together they represent about 28% of BP’s global capacity and half of its U.S. capacity, Societe Generale noted.

BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said that “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.”

“But it will also be a year in which we have the opportunity to reset the company, adjusting the shape of our business,” he added.

BP’s decision to sell the troubled Texas City refinery in the US is “not surprising in view of the long-term strategy of the oil majors to reduce their stakes in refining,” Datamonitor’s Atkinson said.

“Margins remain subdued and there are major investment requirements in the pipeline required to deal with CO2 emissions and other mandates to improve the quality of oil products. Refining is a business BP can live without,” he added.

Partly as a result of the asset sales BP said production would decline to around 3.4 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent a day in 2011, down from 3.67 million in 2010.

BP on Tuesday also said it plans to increase its capital expenditure to $20 billion in 2011 from $18.2 billion in 2010, as it chases new opportunities in upstream.

A presidential commission last month found that BP wasn’t the sole culprit of the spill and spread the blame to rig owner Transocean Ltd RIG, -1.73% and cement supplier Halliburton Co. HAL, +2.25% . A criminal investigation and a civil suit against BP are ongoing.

Earlier this month, BP struck a share swap and exploration venture with Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft. But the Russian shareholders in BP’s TNK-BP joint venture have asked a London court to halt the deal. The hearing is scheduled for later Tuesday.

BP rival Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) reports earnings on Thursday.