UPDATE 1-Thai PTTEP Q4 profit more than doubles, shares up

* Q4 profit 10.12 bln baht vs forecasts 9.5 bln

* Rising crude oil prices boost sales

* Analysts see growth in 2011, but concerned about costs

* Shares up 2.6 pct after earnings (Adds details)

By Khettiya Jittapong

BANGKOK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production Plc PTTE.BK said its fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled, boosted by higher sales volume and a rise in average selling prices in line with crude oil prices.

However, Thailand's second-most-valuable listed company will have higher costs this year related to an oil sands project in Canada, and that has prompted some analysts to cut 2011 profit forecasts, although they still expect strong earnings growth.

After Wednesday's announcement, PTTEP's shares were up 2.6 percent at 159 baht at 0340 GMT, outperforming a 1.4 percent rise in the main Thai index .SETI.

So far this year, the stock has fallen 8 percent, partly due to concerns about the impact of an oil spill and fire in the Montara field off Australia in late 2009.

PTTEP expects a probe into the incident by the Australian government to be completed in the first quarter.

PTTEP, a subsidiary of PTT PTT.BK, Thailand's biggest energy firm, posted an October-December net profit of 10.12 billion baht ($327 million) versus 4.65 billion a year earlier.

The profit was slightly higher than the average forecast of 9.5 billion baht from eight analysts polled by Reuters.

For the full year 2010 the company posted a net profit of 41.7 billion baht, up from 22.15 billion baht in 2009.

PTTEP, 65 percent owned by state-controlled PTT, is expected to report a rise in 2011 net profit to 44 billion baht, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine's SmartEstimate.

PTTEP, which ranks among Asia's top 10 explorers and competes with big Chinese oil firms such as CNOOC (0883.HK) and Sinopec (0386.HK), is involved in 44 oil and gas exploration and development projects.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 4.5 percent to 35 billion baht due to higher petroleum sales of 272,198 barrels of oil equivalent per day, it said in a statement.

The rise in volume came mainly from natural gas and condensate from the B-17 block of the Malaysian-Thai joint development, Arthit North and Bongkot in the Gulf of Thailand.

Average selling prices were $46.14 a barrel, up from $43.44 a year earlier, with an exchange rate of 30.25 baht to dollar versus 33.48 a year earlier.

Shares in PTTEP, valued at $17 billion on the Thai bourse, rose 9 percent in the fourth quarter, outperforming a 6 percent rise in the broad Thai market. ($1 = 30.92 Baht) (Reporting by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Alan Raybould)