BP beats quarterly earnings estimates, trims spending

LONDON (Reuters) - BP reported a near halving in third-quarter earnings on Tuesday and trimmed 2016 spending by another $1 billion as weak prices cut into profits yet the British oil major still beat analysts' estimates.

BP's underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, fell to $933 million, compared with $780 million expected by analysts and down from $1.8 billion a year earlier.

"We remain on track to rebalance organic cash flows next year at $50 to $55 a barrel," Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said in a statement.

BP said this year's capital expenditure would fall to around $16 billion and to $15-17 billion in 2017.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by Jason Neely)