Energy group BG says third-quarter profits slide

LONDON (AFP) - Energy producer BG Group said Wednesday that net profit tumbled 43.5 percent in the third quarter due to weaker natural gas prices and lower-than-expected output.

Net profit sank to 484 million pounds in the three months to September, compared with 857 million pounds a year earlier.

The company, whose operations extend from Norway to Brazil, said in a quarterly earnings release that revenue dived 32 percent to 2.25 billion pounds.

Production rose five percent to 56.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, or 615,000 barrels per day, during the reporting period.

However, analyst consensus forecasts had been for an output increase of 8.2 percent.

The lower-than-expected production gain was largely due to a delay in the start-up of the Hasdrubal facility in Tunisia, BG said.

Despite tumbling profits, BG Chief Executive Frank Chapman gave a confident outlook for the company, with higher production levels expected during the fourth quarter.

"These results demonstrate once again the strength of BG Group's integrated gas business and this, together with current production levels around 700,000 barrels per day, up 12 percent on the fourth quarter of 2008, provides us with confidence in the outlook for the group's performance," Chapman said.

"BG Group has assembled an array of material, long-life projects and we are now entering a period where we can look forward to these projects driving exceptional growth to the end of the next decade."

-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report --

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