By Giulia Petroni 

Eni SpA said Friday that it swung to a profit for the third quarter, boosted by the upside in hydrocarbon prices and an improved operating performance following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Italian oil major said it registered a quarterly profit of 1.20 billion euros ($1.40 billion) compared with a loss of EUR503 million for the previous-year period.

On an adjusted basis, net profit came in at EUR1.43 billion, above a company-compiled analysts' consensus that had forecast the figure at EUR1.08 billion.

Adjusted operating profit was EUR2.49 billion compared with EUR537 million last year and analysts' expectations of EUR2.44 billion.

Sales jumped to EUR19.02 billion from EUR10.33 billion a year earlier.

Hydrocarbon production in the quarter was 1.69 million barrels of oil equivalent a day compared with 1.70 million boe/d a year earlier, and rose on quarter. Production expectations are confirmed at almost 1.7 million boe/d for the full year.

Eni said strong cash generation and cost management has created more than EUR4 billion of free cash flow in the first nine months of the year, fully covering for the full-year dividend and buyback.

The company said it expects cash flow from operations, before changes in working capital at replacement cost, to reach approximately EUR12 billion in the full year, assuming a Brent crude price scenario of $70 a barrel.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com