Dow Jones: Australian Shale Gas Looms After Santos Drill Success

Santos Ltd. Friday said Australia is poised to join the ranks of global shale gas producers, targeting first sales of the unconventional fuel in October following encouraging drilling results in the Australian Outback.

Reports of the drilling success came as Australia's third-largest oil and gas producer reported a 48% fall in first-half profit to 262 million Australian dollars (US$275.6 million). The decline was largely due to the company benefiting from asset sales in the previous period. Underlying earnings beat expectations by growing 20%, buoyed by higher natural gas prices.  MORE