London, England-based BP plc (BP - Analyst Report) is one of the world's major energy companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemical products. The Upstream business is focused mainly in the U.S., with significant presence in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The downstream business consists primarily of U.S. refineries, along with presence in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The company also produces a range of petrochemicals. BP also owns a 19.8% stake in Russian oil company Rosneft.

Currently, BP has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but that could change following its fourth quarter 2015 earnings report which has just released. Coming to earnings surprise history, the company has a mixed track record regarding earnings surprises.

We have highlighted some of the key quarterly details from the just-released announcement below:

Earnings: BP misses on earnings. Earnings per ADS came in at 6 cents, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 17 cents.

Revenue: Revenues fell year-over-year. Revenues of $49,233 million were lower than the year-ago figure of $75,096 million.

Key Stats: Total production of 2.369 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMBoe/d) was high 8.3% year over year.

The company sold liquids for $37.05 per barrel in the fourth quarter (versus $69.03 in the year-earlier quarter) and natural gas for $3.47 per thousand cubic feet (versus $5.54). Overall price realization fell to $29.54 per Boe from the year-ago level of $51.53 per Boe.

Refining Marker Margin increased to $13.2 per barrel from $13.0 in the fourth quarter of 2014. Total refinery throughput decreased to 1,714 thousand barrels per day (MB/d) from 1,782 MB/d in the year-earlier period. Refining availability was 95.5% versus 94.8% in the year-ago period.