BP beats Q3 expectations, announces share buyback programme

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - British oil producer BP beat analysts' expectations for third-quarter earnings on Tuesday and said it would buy back shares to dilute the impact of its scrip dividend programme.

BP reported third-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, of $1.87 billion, exceeding analysts' forecasts of $1.58 billion.

That doubled a profit of $933 million a year earlier and $684 million in the second quarter of 2017, when the company took a large writedown on exploration.

"Given the momentum we see across our businesses and our confidence in the outlook for the group's finances, we will be recommencing a share buyback programme this quarter," Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps and Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)