By Arunima Kumar

(Reuters) -ConocoPhillips posted an 87.5% surge in third-quarter profit that topped Wall Street expectation on Thursday, extending a string of bumper earnings from oil producers benefiting from higher energy prices, and raised its share repurchase plan to $45 billion.

The shale producer’s larger U.S. rivals Exxon Mobil and Chevron have also reported strong results, rekindling calls for energy companies to pay more taxes.

ConocoPhillips also raised its quarterly dividend by 11% and approved a $20 billion increase in share repurchase plan despite renewed push by President Joe Biden to invest the gains from higher energy prices in production instead of share buybacks.

The company said its 2022 production outlook remains unchanged, while for the fourth quarter, it expects output to be between 1.74 and 1.80 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed).

Its total average realized price surged 46% to $83.07 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) from a year earlier and production rose by 210,000 boed to 1.75 million barrels boed.

The company, however, raised its annual operating capital guidance to $8.1 billion from $7.8 billion, citing inflationary impacts.

“The base dividend increase and buyback program increase will more than offset the slight increase to the FY capex budget,” Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co analysts wrote in a note.

The Houston, Texas-based company’s net income nearly doubled from last year to $4.5 billion, or $3.55 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30.

Excluding items, ConocoPhillips posted a profit of $3.60 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $3.44, according to Refinitiv data.

The company’s shares were up 1.4% at $128.29 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Arun Koyyur)

FILE PHOTO: A screen displays the logo for ConocoPhillips on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

BRENDAN MCDERMID