RENEE MONTAGNE, host: NPR's business news starts with an uprising's effect on oil.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Oil prices remain above $100 a barrel today and prices have surged nearly eight percent since protests erupted in Egypt. The unrest has sparked fears in the markets that oil supplies through Egypt's Suez Canal could be disrupted.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Oil prices were on the rise even before the Egyptian protests. That boosted profits at BP, which announced its latest earnings today. The oil company says profits were up in the last few months of 2010, but not quite enough to offset losses from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which BP now says cost it nearly $41 billion.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: BP is posting a loss for the overall year, although the company says it will start paying dividends to shareholders once again.
Prices have surged nearly eight percent since protests erupted in Egypt. The unrest has sparked fears in the markets that oil supplies through Egypt's Suez Canal could be disrupted. Oil prices were on the rise even before the protests, and that boosted profits at BP. The company announced Tuesday that its profits were up in the last few months of 2010.