By Jaime Llinares Taboada

Rosneft Oil Co. on Friday posted a loss for the third quarter, but its underlying earnings more than doubled from the second quarter on the back of stronger oil prices.

The Russian energy company swung to a net loss of 64 billion rubles ($828 million) for the three months to Sept. 30, from a RUB43 billion profit in the second quarter of the year. Rosneft blamed non-monetary factors for the bottom-line performance, but didn't provide any further detail.

However, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--one of the company's preferred metrics, which strips out one-off items--jumped to RUB366 billion from RUB170 billion. The company benefited from a significant increase in oil prices in July-September, with the Urals benchmark rising 38% to $43.0 per barrel.

"Significant achievements of the third quarter include a reduction of upstream operating costs to $2.8 per barrel of oil equivalent and a decrease in interest costs by 24% in dollar terms year-on-year," Chairman and Chief Executive Igor Sechin said.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-13-20 0242ET