BP BP Plc

   By Carlo Martuscelli 
 

BP PLC (BP.LN) reported on Tuesday that replacement cost profit was down 9.2% in the third quarter, and said that it expects production to increase in the next quarter.

The British oil company said that replacement cost profit, which is a company-specific figure seen as a benchmark by analysts, was $1.38 billion for the third quarter, compared with $1.66 billion reported in the year-earlier period.

Underlying replacement cost profit was $1.87 billion. This was above the consensus forecast of $1.58 billion provided by BP, which was the average of 23 broker estimates.

Total revenue was $60.8 billion, up from $48.04 billion in the year-before period.

Average daily production stood at 2.46 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day. The energy giant reported that underlying production in the quarter increased by 10.9% due to the ramp-up of major projects.

The company announced that it was initiating a buyback program to offset dilution of scrip dividend payments, but did not specify the extent of the initiative.

BP reported that debt stood at $39.8 billion as of Sept. 30, up from $32.4 billion a year ago.

The company added that it expects around $4.5 billion from disposal proceeds in 2017--including $1.4 billion from SECCO and $700 million from BP Midstream Partners LP's common units in the fourth quarter.

BP declared a dividend of 10 cents, unchanged from 2016.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2017 04:01 ET (08:01 GMT)

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