UPDATE 2-Apache 4th-qtr earnings double, tops Wall Street

(Adds byline, share price, analyst comment, additional detail)

By Anna Driver

HOUSTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas company Apache Corp (APA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday fourth-quarter earnings doubled, driven by an 8 percent jump in production and record oil prices.

Exploration and production companies have benefited from a surge in the price of crude oil. Oil prices averaged more than $90 a barrel during the quarter due to tight supplies, geopolitical risks and the weak dollar. In the same period of 2006, oil prices averaged just over $60 a barrel.

"It was a very strong quarter, strong across the board," Fadel Gheit, oil analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., said. "Obviously the story is really strong oil and natural gas prices."

Shares of Apache climbed 1 percent, or $1.07, to $96 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Net income in the quarter rose to $1.07 billion, or $3.19 a share, from $519 million, or $1.56 a share, in the year-earlier period.

Apache's fourth-quarter adjusted earnings were $2.92 per share, which easily topped the average analyst estimate of $2.45 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue in the quarter climbed to $3.01 billion from $1.97 billion a year earlier.