UPDATE 1-Murphy Oil 3rd-qtr profit drops, shares down

* Q3 net 98 cents per share vs 99 cents Wall St view

* Q3 output 131,637 barrels per day, up 18 pct yr/yr

* Shares fall 2 pct

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Murphy Oil Corp (MUR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday quarterly profit fell 68 percent as crude oil prices dropped sharply from a year ago and weak fuel demand in the global economic slowdown hurt its refining business.

Net profit in the third quarter was $188.9 million, or 98 cents per share, compared with $584.4 million, or $3.04 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts, on average, had expected the El Dorado, Arkansas company to report a profit of 99 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of Murphy fell 2 percent to $62.00 in after-hours trading, after closing broadly unchanged at $63.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Murphy said total third-quarter production of crude oil, condensate and gas liquids averaged 131,637 barrels per day, up 18 percent from a year ago. (Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco and Anna Driver in Houston, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)