Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a South Korean shipbuilder, said Wednesday that its earnings sank 6.4 percent in 2012 from a year earlier as it set aside reserves against compensation for damage caused by the country’s largest oil spill.

Net profit reached 796 billion won ($734 million) last year, compared with 851 billion won reported a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales gained 8.2 percent on-year to reach 14.49 trillion won in 2012, and operating income surged 11.4 percent to 1.2 trillion won, it said.

Shares of Samsung Heavy closed at 38,050 won on the Seoul bourse, up 0.66 percent. The company released the results after the market closed.

Samsung Heavy said it set aside around 100 billion won just in case it would be needed to cover the cost of compensation for damage caused by the oil spill in December, 2007.

Bad weather caused a Samsung Heavy barge to be separated from its tugboats and struck an oil tanker, spilling over 12,000 tons of crude oil into the West Sea.

The country’s largest oil spill virtually ruined the South Korea’s central west coastal regions, causing massive damages. (Yonhap News)