Galp's oil products sales edge up 1 pct in 2nd qtr

LISBON, July 23 (Reuters) - Portugal's oil company Galp (GALP.LS) said on Wednesday its sales of refined products edged up about 1 percent in the second quarter of this year from a year earlier to reach 4.1 million tonnes.

Compared with the preceding three-month period, sales rose by 6 percent, Galp said in a statement. Exports made up 700,000 tonnes.

Galp refined 25.12 million barrels of crude oil in the quarter, 1.8 percent less than a year earlier, but 6.2 percent more than in the first quarter of 2008.

The company said that the global oil price rise had a negative impact of 50 million euros on the gross margin of its refining and distribution unit in the second quarter.

Sales of natural gas rose 9.1 percent from a year ago to 1.48 billion cubic meters.

Galp will report quarterly earnings on Aug. 6. Galp shares dropped 1.27 percent to 11.62 euros on Wednesday in Lisbon. (Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, writing by Andrei Khalip)