UPDATE 3-El Paso 1st-qtr earnings rise, sees strong year

(Adds details from conference call, updates share price)

NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) - El Paso Corp (EP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a natural gas producer and pipeline company, posted higher first-quarter operating profit on Thursday, and said it expects full-year earnings to be sharply higher than its previous forecast on stronger oil and natural gas prices.

Operating profit rose to 33 cents a share from 18 cents a share last year. Analysts, on average, had expected 29 cents a share in the quarter, according to Reuters Estimates.

Net profit dropped from last year, when the company recorded a gain of $677 million from the sale of its ANR pipeline. It fell to $200 million, or 29 cents per diluted share, from $620 million, or 89 cents per diluted share, last year.

Revenue rose to $1.27 billion from $1.02 billion last year.

Earnings at the company's exploration and production unit rose 35 percent to $242 million, helped by higher production and higher realized prices for natural gas and oil.

Profits at El Paso pipeline unit increased nearly 5 percent to $381 million.

The company said it expects full-year earnings to be sharply higher than its previous estimate of $1 to $1.10 a share. Analysts, on average, expected $1.14 a share.

Chief Executive Doug Foshee said on a conference call with analysts that if natural gas were to average $9 per million British thermal unit (Btu) this year, the company would earn $1.25 to $1.35 a share. At $10 per million Btu it would earn $1.44 to $1.54 a share, he said.

Shares of El Paso were up 69 cents, or 3.8 percent, at $18.96 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading. (Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Dave Zimmerman/Jeffrey Benkoe)