JPMorgan Cazenove, a company broker to BP, has cut its forecast of the oil group’s third-quarter profits, suggesting that the consensus of analysts’ estimates is about 30 per cent too high.

In a note, Fred Lucas of Cazenove said the broker was cutting its forecast of third-quarter net income by 9 per cent to $3.915bn. It predicted earnings per share of 10.1p for the quarter, compared with a consensus forecast of 13.2p.