Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) reported a far bigger jump in first-quarter 2017 operating profit than expected on May 4, helped by the first profit from its international operations since 2014 and higher oil prices.

Like rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A), the majority state-owned oil and gas company benefited from a 55% increase in crude prices from the same period a year ago, as well as from its cost-cutting efforts.

Statoil's overall adjusted operating profit came in at $3.3 billion, well above the $2.67 billion expected by analysts and $857 million in 2016.

Its international operations, which include Angola, Brazil and the U.S. and account for about one-third of total output, made a profit of $272 million. This was the first positive result since the third quarter of 2014, when oil prices began to slide.

Swedbank analyst Teodor Sveen-Nilsen said he was likely to raise his estimate for Statoil's full-year operating earnings by 6% to 9% after the strong quarterly results, which were also helped by low operations and exploration costs.

Statoil shares rose as much as 3.7% and were 2.5% higher on the Oslo stock exchange by 1050 GMT, outperforming a European oil and gas index that was up 1%.

"Statoil benefited from multiple macro tailwinds this quarter, in particular stronger European gas pricing, which we believe was a key driver in this set of numbers," RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria, who has a "Sector pPerform" rating on the stock, said in a note.

Statoil maintained its plan to spend $1.5 billion on exploration this year, including in the Barents Sea, where it will start its drilling campaign soon.

It also stuck to plans to raise production by 4% to 5% in 2017. Output rose 5% in the first quarter to 2,146 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMboe/d), with output from the Norwegian Continental Shelf at a five-year high.

"Our solid financial result and strong cash flow across all segments was driven by higher prices, good operational performance and an organic production growth of 5%," Statoil said in a statement.

The company is the main supplier of natural gas to Britain and the second-largest supplier to Europe after Russia's Gazprom.

Oil prices, a key driver of Statoil's earnings, were expected to trade between $50/bbl and $60/bbl in the next 12 months, the company's CEO Eldar Saetre told Norwegian broadcaster TV2.

Brent crude was trading at about $50/bbl on May 4.

The company took a $2.3 billion charge in its fourth-quarter 2016 results due to a weaker oil price outlook.

Offshore