According to the company's statement, the underlying "replacement cost profit of the third quarter", which is the company's term to define net profit, is the highest result in more than five years. Strong earnings were driven by high reliability and major project delivery, the company said.
"Our focus on safe and reliable operations and delivering our strategy is driving strong earnings and growing cash flow. Operations are running well across BP and we’re bringing new, higher-margin barrels into production faster through efficient project execution," explained Bob Dudley, the group chief executive.
"We have made very good progress with our acquisition from BHP and expect to complete the transaction tomorrow [Wednesday, Oct. 31]," he added.
The company's oil and gas production for the first nine months of the year increased to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company expects that production for the fourth quarter will be higher due to the acquisition of $10.5 billion worth of BHP assets, announced in July and expected for completion on Oct. 31.