LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - BP more than doubled its third-quarter profit from a year earlier to $8.15 billion, lifted by strong natural gas trading, as it expanded its share buybacks by $2.5 billion amid rising calls to increase taxes on the energy sector.
The London-based company joins rivals including Shell, Exxon Mobil, and TotalEnergies which also reported bumper profits last week that sparked calls from politicians to hit the sector with new windfall taxes to help governments with soaring energy bills.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday called on major oil companies who are bringing in big profits to stop "war profiteering," threatening to hit them with higher taxes if they don't increase production. BP said it expects to pay around $2.5 billion in taxes for its British North Sea business this year, including $800 million in a windfall tax.
The company paid $5 billion in tax around the world in the quarter at a rate of 37%, Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss told Reuters.
Auchincloss would not comment on Biden's comment but said BP is increasing the number of drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and shale basins to boost output.
Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney is leading BP's pivot away from oil and gas to renewables and low-carbon energy in an effort to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Last month it announced a $4 billion deal to acquire U.S. biogas producer Archaea.
BP, which increased its dividend by 10% in the quarter, will buy back $2.5 billion of shares after repurchasing $7.6 billion so far this year.
BP has committed to using 60% of its excess cashflow for shareholder returns.
BP shares were up 0.5% in early London trading. GAS TRADING BP's third-quarter underlying replacement cost profit of $8.15 billion, the company's definition of net income, compared with forecasts of a $6 billion profit in a company-provided survey of analysts. BP made a profit of $3.3 billion a year earlier and a 14-year high profit of $8.45 billion in the second quarter of 2022.
Its latest result was helped by "an exceptional gas marketing and trading result" as well as higher gas prices, offsetting weaker refining margins and "average" oil trading.
Earning from the gas and low energy division more than doubled from the second quarter. Top U.S. LNG exporter Freeport LNG has informed BP it expects to resume cargo deliveries this month following a months-long outage, Auchincloss told Reuters.
BP holds the largest offtake contract from Freeport at 4.4 million tonnes per annum through 2040. While its net debt fell around $800 million to $22 billion, BP's gearing, or debt-to-capital ratio, rose to 23.1% from 21.9% in the second quarter.
BP said it expected global gas prices to remain volatile in the forth quarter due to a lack of supply into Europe after Russia slashed its pipeline deliveries to the continent. Refining margins are also expected to remain high due to sanctions on Russian crude oil and refined products, BP said.
BP's profits https://tmsnrt.rs/3oLFpRI
(Reuters - Reporting by Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jason Neely)
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