BP's Q3 profits drop sharply, buybacks extended

BP reported on Tuesday third-quarter earnings of $3.3 billion, missing analysts' forecasts, after a large drop in energy prices from a year ago, as the company extended its $1.5 billion share repurchase programme.

BP's third-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, missed forecasts of $4 billion in a company-provided survey of analysts.

That compared with a $2.6 billion profit in the second quarter and $8.15 billion a year earlier.