UPDATE 1-Tupras posts 34 percent decline in Q3 profit

* Q3 net profit 280 million lira

* Q3 sales drop a third to 6.32 billion lira

(Adds analyst comment, 9-month figures, background)

ISTANBUL, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Tupras (TUPRS.IS), Turkey's only oil refiner, said on Wednesday third-quarter net profit fell by a third to 280 million lira ($190 million), but exceeded a forecast of 260 million lira in a Reuters poll.

Sales also dropped by a third to 6.32 billion lira from 9.5 billion lira in the same period of 2008 after global crude prices more than halved from last year's record high and recession undermined demand.

The average poll forecast for sales was 5.73 billion lira. [ID:nLC792223]

"The decline in global refining margins affected Tupras as well," said Hasan Sener, analyst at Oyak Securities.

"The results are in line with expectations" he said.

The Kocaeli, Turkey-based company posted net income of 612.3 million lira in the first nine months of the year, down from 1.142 billion lira a year earlier.

Nine-month sales fell to 14.73 billion lira from 24.62 billion the previous year.

Benchmark crude oil CLc1 ended the last quarter at $70.61 per barrel, compared to $100 in 2008. A record price of $147 per barrel was reached in July 2008.

Tupras, which is owned by Koc Holding (KCHOL.IS), Turkey's biggest company, has cut production this year as demand dropped because of a deep recession. Gross domestic product shrank 14 percent in the first quarter and 7 percent in the second. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, writing by Daren Butler; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)