UK's oil firm BP PLC said that it will return $8 billion from TNK-BP sale deal to its shareholders through a share buy-back programme.

The move marks BP's promise to reward investors after it sold its stake in TNK-BP to Russian state oil producer Rosneft in a bid to increase the value of remaining shares.

BP became the biggest riser in London's bluechip index after it saw a dramatic rise in its shares from 1.8% to 457.5 pence in early trading.

Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP's chairman, said in a statement that the programme is designed to allow the shareholders see benefits in the near-term from the value they realized by restructuring the company's Russian business.

The $8 billion figure is about twice what analysts calculated when BP announced last October that it will at least offset any dilution to earnings per share as a result of the TNK-BP Sale.