Vedanta Resources said operating profit from its oil and gas business fell 78 percent. Vedanta Resources also reported a small impairment charge related to its copper operations in Zambia. It said the charge was related mostly to its acquisition of Cairn India. Vedanta's Indian unit, Vedanta Ltd, had already given notice of the impairment charge when it announced its own full-year results last month. Vedanta Resources on Thursday reported a 17 percent drop in full-year core earnings, which Chairman Anil Agarwal attributed in part to 'unprecedented declines' in oil and iron ore prices. Brent crude collapsed to a low of just above $45 a barrel in January from a high of $115 last June. Like other resources companies, it has struggled with plummeting commodity prices in the last year.

Best known as a mining company, Vedanta bought a controlling stake in Cairn India Ltd, India's largest private-sector oil producer, in 2011. The company's London-listed shares fell as much as 4 percent early on Thursday before recovering to 660 pence, unchanged from the previous day's close. By Mamidipudi Soumithri (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc posted a full-year loss after a sharp drop in crude prices precipitated a $4.5 billion (£2.85 billion) writedown related to its Indian oil and gas business.

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