London-based BP reported lower underlying third quarter profits on Tuesday as falling production, after the oil major sold fields to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, outweighed the benefits of higher crude prices.

BP said replacement cost (RC) net profit was $5.14 billion in the quarter, compared to $1.85 billion in the same period last year, when the group took a large charge related to the oil spill.

Stripping out such one-offs, the result fell 3.7 percent to $5.33 billion, ahead of an average forecast of $5.03 billion from a Reuters poll of nine analysts.

RC profit strips out unrealized gains and losses related to changes in the value of fuel inventories, and, as such, is comparable with net income under U.S. accounting rules.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin)

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