U.S. oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, as the company boosted oil production and sold at higher prices.
Sales volumes from the company's U.S. onshore business, its biggest, rose 17.2 percent in the third quarter to 109,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company said average realized prices for U.S. onshore rose 41.3 percent to $65.54 per barrel, as U.S. oil producers benefited from a rise in crude prices, which touched a high of $80 per barrel in the three months ended September.
Houston-based Noble Energy's total revenue rose to $1.27 billion from $960 million.
The company said net income attributable was $227 million, or 47 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $136 million, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, Noble earned 27 cents per share, beating analysts' average estimate of 18 cents, according to Refinitiv data.
The company's shares rose 1.6 percent to $25.24 in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)