BUCHAREST, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Romania's top oil and gas company Petrom, majority-owned by Austria's OMV , posted a third-quarter net profit of 1.27 billion lei ($387.59 million) on Thursday, slightly above market expectations.
The average forecast in a Reuters poll was for a net profit of 1.26 billion lei. Petrom recorded a profit of 870 million lei in July-September 2012.
"In the third quarter we continued to deliver a solid performance, benefiting from a favourable crude price environment and cost optimization," Chief Executive Mariana Gheorghe said in a statement.
"In E&P, over the first nine months of 2013, we managed to achieve the first year-on-year production stabilization at Group level since privatization...Exploration offshore is progressing and, in joint venture with ExxonMobil, we aim to resume drilling in the Neptun block around mid-2014."