BP finance chief sells more options

BP finance director Dr Byron Grote has made his third six figure gain on option sales in three months.

The options were issued by the oil company's Executive Directors Incentive Plan. He acquired 13,173 ADSs - equivalent to 79,038 shares - for $37.76 each and then sold them for $54.3616 each - equivalent to 577.09p a share. That is a gain of nearly $219,000 (£139,000).

In the middle of November, Dr Grote made a gain of £323,000 on the sale of the equivalent of 150,000 shares obtained from the same scheme. He followed that up with a £238,000 gain on the sale of options in December.

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Dr Grote also raised £163,000 from a share sale at the beginning of February after the full year results were published. Dr Grote still owns nearly 0.4% of BP.

Dr Grote has been BP finance director since 2002. He is also a non-executive director of Unilever.

BP's 2009 figures failed to meet expectations because of a weak fourth quarter. Full year replacement cost profit eased 45% to $13.96bn from $25.59bn in 2008, largely as a result of weaker oil and gas prices and pressure on refining margins.

Non-operating items for the fourth quarter and full year 2009 included a goodwill impairment of $1.6bn relating to the group's US West Coast fuels value chain in Refining and Marketing.

Net debt was $26.2bn at the end of 2009.

The quarterly dividend was maintained at 14 cents. The sterling equivalent is 8.679p per share, down 12% from 9.818p paid a year ago.

Top Director Sells

BP (BP.) Director name: Mr Byron E GroteAmount sold: 79,038 @ 577.09p Value: £456,120