UPDATE 2-Brazil's Petrobras quarterly profit soars 68 pct

(Recasts, adds analysts, costs, exports and imports)

By Denise Luna and Andrei Khalip

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 12 (Reuters) - Brazilian state oil company Petrobras posted on Monday a 68 percent rise in its first-quarter net profit, beating market expectations, on higher oil output and prices of some fuels it sells.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) said net consolidated profit totaled 6.9 billion reais ($4.1 billion), up from 4.1 billion reais a year earlier. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 13.8 billion reais from 11 billion a year ago.

Analysts, on average, had expected net consolidated profit of about 5.6 billion reais and EBITDA -- a key measure of cash flow -- of 12.6 billion reais. The net income was also 37 percent higher than in the fourth quarter of last year, while EBITDA rose 15 percent from the previous quarter.

"The net profit came way above expectations, and it's already impacting the stock in after-market trades," said Nelson Rodrigues de Matos, an analyst with Banco do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, expecting the shares to rise on Tuesday.

Petrobras shares closed 0.18 percent higher at 45.75 reais on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange before the results were announced, even as world oil prices fell.

Net revenue rose 21 percent from the same quarter of 2007 to nearly 46.9 billion reais, largely in line with forecasts.

Rodrigues de Matos said the EBITDA margin effectively dropped if nonrecurrent payments into the company's Petros pension fund were discounted from last year's results.

"That's because the oil price rise wasn't passed on to domestic gasoline and diesel prices. But the market knows that after this month's hike the tendency is for the second quarter's margin to improve," he added.

Petrobras hiked refinery-gate gasoline and diesel prices by 10 percent and 15 percent respectively on May 2 after a freeze that lasted 2-1/2 years. The prices, especially of diesel, are still lagging behind world levels.

The government has de facto control over Petrobras gasoline and diesel prices, but rates of other products like naphtha and aviation fuel are adjusted regularly.

Oil production, or lifting, costs in Brazil jumped 20 percent from a year ago and edged up 1 percent from the preceding quarter to $8.66 per barrel.

Petrobras said without the impact of the appreciation of the local currency, the real, lifting costs rose 8 percent from a year ago and fell 1 percent from the fourth quarter. The real is trading near its highest levels since 1999.

"Lifting costs rose quite significantly, but I don't think it is worrisome as it is the trend in the whole industry. General and administrative expenditure and tax costs actually surprised coming on the low side," Rodrigues de Matos said.

The company's average oil and gas output rose 2 percent from a year earlier to about 2.35 million barrels per day (bpd) as a number of new production platforms came on stream. But the units had yet to reach capacity by mid-2008, and their operation is inflating costs, analysts said.