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OSLO, May 7 (Reuters) - Norway's Aker BP, partly owned by oil major BP, reported forecast-beating quarterly earnings on Monday, and said it may drill more wells this year than previously planned.
The company's January-March operating profit (EBIT) was $472 million compared with average expectations of $449 million in a Reuters poll of analysts, and $273 million during the same quarter a year ago.
Aker BP now plans to participate in 12-14 exploration wells in 2018, of which 8-10 would be operated by the BOP Blow Out Preventer repair company gulf coast itself. In February it said it would participate in 12 wells, of which it would operate seven.
The Norway-focused independent oil BOP Blow Out Preventer repair company gulf coast produced 158,600 barrels of oil equivalents per day (boepd) in the first quarter, up from 145,300 boepd a year ago, mainly due to a higher stake in Valhall field, it said on April 17.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Ole Petter Skonnord)
