The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused one of the worst oil spills in history

Oil giant BP has reported a fall in full-year profits as it continued to set aside money to cover liabilities related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Replacement cost profit, which strips out the effect of oil price movements, was $17.6bn (£11.18bn) in 2012 – down from $21.7bn a year earlier.

The results come days after a US court approved a record $4bn in criminal penalties against BP related to the giant oil spill.

BP made $4bn in the fourth quarter of 2012.

That compares to $5bn in the same period in 2011, mainly as a result of asset sales to pay for its spill charges.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident was one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.

It killed 11 workers and released millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.

BP said that it took an additional $4.1 billion charge in the fourth quarter, related to its settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, in which it agreed to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges.

In total the company believes the cumulative cost of the Gulf of Mexico spill at the end of 2012 amounted to $42.2bn.

BP will also pay an $525m to the Securities and Exchange Commission over a period of three years.