International oil company BP has posted a $2.56 billion first-quarter profit, down a staggering $4.53 billion million from the same period in 2008, and the company blamed commodity prices.

Despite the shrunken result, the company said it would squeeze out a four-percent larger dividedent come June 2009.

A halving of cash from operating activities was down to exploration and production, the profit before tax of which slipped 57 percent to $4.29 billion. The oil earnings of BP’s Russia business TNK-BP was “primarily” to blame having suffered from lower oil prices, although the Moscow-based outfit has lowered costs 11 percent in the interim.

TNK-BP, the company said, will help power the BP group to higher production this year than in 2008, although the group looks set to spend some $4 billion less in 2009 than last year.

Tags: BP PLC