YPF Reports Higher-than-expected Q3 Net Profit

Argentina's state-controlled energy company, YPF , on Wednesday posted a third-quarter net profit of 3.212 billion pesos ($377.4 million), beating market expectations.

The market had expected earnings of 2.310 billion pesos for the quarter, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.

YPF said it had clocked up net profit of 7.549 billion pesos in the first nine months of the year. This was more than double the 3.201 billion pesos earnt in the same period of 2013.

The energy firm, which wants to develop vast shale oil and gas resources in the south of the country but is struggling to raise finances, said it had invested 13.776 billion pesos in the third quarter, up 71.6 percent on the year.

YPF, which which was nationalized in 2012 after the Argentine government seized the stake held by Spanish oil major Repsol, said production grew 15.4 percent in the three-month period compared with the third quarter of 2013.

Oil output rose 4.6 percent, while natural gas production climbed 26.1 percent, the statement said. Refining capacity during the period reached 94 percent, it said.

Argentina wants to accelerate output growth in order to erase the energy deficit it has been running since 2011. The company currently produces about 240,000 barrels per day of oil and about 43.5 million cubic meters of gas per day.

YPF Argentina has a 51 percent stake in YPF while the rest is traded on the New York stock exchange.

(U.S. $1=8.51 Argentine pesos)

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Maximiliano Rizzi; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)