Last checked at 
* Equinor posts small EBIT drop, beats forecasts
* Says Johan Sverdrup oilfield on track for Nov. Start
* Domestic, international oil & gas production beat fcasts(Adds CEO, CFO quotes, details)
By Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO, May 3 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinorreported on Friday a small fall in quarterly operatingprofit, beating forecasts, and said its giant Johan Sverdrupoilfield in the North Sea remains on track to start productionin November.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), adjusted forone-off items, fell to $4.2 billion in the first quarter from$4.4 billion during the same period of 2018, higher than aforecast of $3.9 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.
The company, which has a smaller refining business thanrivals, fared slightly better than BP, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron which saw sharp declines in profitspartly due to lower refining margins.
Equinor's domestic and international oil and gas productionunits both beat forecasts, while its refining, marketing andrenewable energy unit was largely in line with analysts'expectations.
"The beat in both cases was largely down to lower costs...,while in Norway costs were also helped by a weaker crown,"analysts at Berenberg investment bank said.
Equinor's pipeline gas sales to Europe were also a positivesurprise, given that many expected them to be lower due toweaker spot prices, RBC Capital Markets' Biraj Borkhataria said.
Its quarterly oil and gas production was 2.18 millionbarrels of oil equivalents per day (boepd), slightly ahead of a2.16 million forecast in the poll.
About 40 percent of its production came from internationaloperations, including in the United States, Angola and in Brazilwhich Equinor recently designated as a core growth area.
The company expects full year production in 2019 to beunchanged from last year, but to grow annually by 3 percent over2019-2025.
"Johan Sverdrup will start production later this year, andour project developments are on track to deliver productiongrowth towards 2025," Chief Executive Eldar Saetre said in astatement.
LOWER SPENDING
The company reiterated its financial outlook, including $11billion in capital spending in 2019, and said it would pay adividend of $0.26 per share for the first quarter, in line withexpectations.
Some analysts have said the company could end the year withlower capital spending than guided, as in previous years.
"Given the company's track record on capex, we would expectspending levels to be nudged down to $10-10.5 billion later inthe year," Borkhataria said.
Lundin Petroleum, a partner in the project, saidon Thursday it saw possibilities to reduce Johan Sverdrup Phase1 project costs, estimated at 86 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.80billion), as offshore installations progressed smoothly.
Equinor was planning to spend around 5 percent of its totalcapital expenditure on renewable energy projects this year,similar to 2018, he added.
Saetre said Equinor planned to take part in an upcomingBritish renewable energy auction in May to build a giant DoggerBank wind park in the North Sea with its partner SSE.($1 = 8.7733 Norwegian crowns)(Additional reporting by Izabela Niemiec, editing by TerjeSolsvik and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
