BG beats forecasts on high prices

By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - BG Group (BG.L) beat forecasts with a 78 percent jump in first-quarter profit, powered by high gas and oil prices and rising production, as the British gas producer said it planned a $12 billion (6.1 billion pound) bid for an Australian utility.

BG said on Wednesday that net profit rose to 767 million pounds from 432 million pounds in the same period last year.

Stripping out one-off items, the result was 789 million pounds, ahead of an average forecast of 691 million pounds in a Reuters poll of eight analysts.

BG's result compares with a 12 percent rise in first-quarter profit at Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and a 48 percent rise at BP (BP.L).

BG's core upstream, gas and oil production unit had a 50 percent jump in profit thanks to an over 10 percent rise in average gas prices and around 70 percent rise in crude prices.

Production of gas and oil also rose, up 4 percent to over 674,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared with flat output at BP and Shell.

High prices in Asia for liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas super-cooled to liquid so it can be transported in ships, helped the company's LNG division triple profit by diverting cargos from lower-priced markets.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Erica Billingham)