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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Murphy Oil Corp. reported sharply lower third-quarter results late Wednesday, clipped by what it called "significantly lower" oil and gas prices and narrower refining margins.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Murphy said its net income fell nearly 68% to $188.9 million, or 97 cents a share, from $584.4 million or $3.04 a share a year ago. There were no one-time items affecting its latest results, while year-ago results benefited from $108 million in asset sales.

Revenue for the quarter fell 36% to $5.18 billion from $8.17 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research had predicted the El Dorado, Ark.-based company would earn $1 a share on $3.82 billion in revenue.

Overall oil and natural-gas liquids production rose 18% to 131,637 barrels per day from $111,751 barrels per day a year ago, benefiting from stepped-up production on fields in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coasts of the Republic of Congo and Malaysia.

Murphy fetched on average $61.13 a barrel for its oil and condensate, about half the $112.55 average it was paid in the third quarter of 2008.

Natural-gas sales volumes averaged 182 million cubic feet a day, nearly three times the 46 million of a year ago. Most of the gains came from the Tupper region in western Canada and the Kikeh field off Sabah Malaysia.

Murphy's North American natural-gas sales brought in on average $3.01 per thousand cubic feet during the quarter, compared with $11.51 per a year ago.

"We recently added some diversity to our downstream operations in the U.S. with the acquisition of an ethanol-production facility in Hankinson, N.D., in early October. This plant is now fully operational and its production design rate is 110 million gallons per annum," the company said.

At the "downstream" refining and marketing end of the business, Murphy reported a $37.2 million profit, down from $85.8 million a year ago. While margins remained weak in North America, they were once again below break-even at Murphy's British refining operations, Murphy added.

The company said it expects to pump the equivalent of 193,000 barrels of oil a day in the fourth quarter with sales averaging 184,000 barrels per day.

Murphy said it expects to earn between 75 cents and 90 cents a share in the final three months of the year, included a projected $24 million loss from its refining and marketing operations and overall expenses in its exploration and production business of $40 million to $75 million.

Shares of Murphy Oil rose 4 cents ahead of the report to close at $63.27. The stock is up nearly 19% over the past 12 months.