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Empresas y finanzas

BP profits rise on higher oil


    LONDON (Reuters) - British oil major BP Plc beat analysts' forecasts and reported a 148 percent rise in third-quarter replacement cost profits, compared with the same period in 2007, to $10.029 billion, due to higher oil prices.

    The replacement cost result, which strips out unrealized gains or losses related to changes in the value of fuel inventories, included a net gain of $1.147 billion related to non-operating items.

    Excluding such items, the underlying replacement cost result was $8.882 billion, ahead of an average forecast of $6.90 billion in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.

    Production rose in the quarter, while analysts' had expected a fall.

    A spokesman said the production result was due to a good performance at its Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico. "The well performance is amazing there," he said.

    The world's fourth-largest western oil major by market value said its quarterly dividend would be 14 cents per share, up from 10.825 cents a year earlier.

    (Reporting by Tom Bergin and Paul Hoskins; editing by Sue Thomas)