UPDATE 3-Finland's Neste pushes back Singapore full production goal

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Neste Q3 comparable EBITDA beats expectations

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New Singapore facility won't reach full capacity this year

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Neste expects Q4 comparable sales margin to remain very strong

(Recasts, adds details, share reaction, analyst comment)

HELSINKI, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Finland's Neste on Thursday posted stronger than expected third-quarter operating earnings but said its new Singapore production facility would not reach full production capacity this year as it had previously indicated.

Renewable fuels are a cornerstone for the oil refiner and biofuel producer, which said a repaired line of its new Singapore facility will start production in the first half of November and is targeted to reach some 75% capacity utilisation by year-end.

Shares in the company were up more than 6% in morning trade.

Neste's July-September comparable earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 1.05 billion euros ($1.11 billion) from 979 million last year.

The result beat the 930.5 million euro mean estimate of 16 analysts in a poll provided by the company.

"The improvement in the result versus the corresponding period last year was driven by Renewable Products, which increased its result by approximately 40%, despite the delayed ramp-up of the new production line in Singapore," Chief Executive Matti Lehmus said in a statement.

Neste's comparable sales margin for renewable products stood at $912 per ton, up from $732 in the year ago quarter, "supported by a strong diesel price and successful global optimization," Lehmus said.

Neste said its fourth-quarter comparable sales margin is expected to remain very strong and in the range of $800–900 per ton.

The new Singapore line will contribute to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sales volumes in 2024, Neste said.

RBC analysts called the results a "beat driven by all divisions".

"Slow restart in Singapore, SAF sales a bit later that expected but in sight," they wrote in a note.

($1 = 0.9483 euros) (Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Christina Fincher)