Oz Santos Reports Record Annual Profit

Australian oil and gas explorer Santos’ 2018 underlying profit jumped 129% year-on-year to a record US$727mn owing to higher oil and gas prices, it said February 21.  

For the full year 2018, company’s revenue was US$3.66bn, up 18% year-on-year. Production during the year, however, was down 1% to 59.5mn boe. This year, Santos expects production to be much higher than in 2018.

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said the recent completion of the acquisition of Quadrant Energy will provide a significant boost to Santos' production in 2019, with the company targeting production of between 71mn boe and 78mn boe.

"The acquisition, combined with organic reserves additions, contributed to strong reserves growth in 2018 with 2P reserves increasing by 20% to over one billion barrels of oil equivalent. Contingent resources increased to 1.8 billion barrels,” he said.

In the Cooper Basin, Santos saw an 8% production growth in 2018, including its highest daily oil production rates since 2009. Drilling activity increased 40% over the course of the year to 85 wells and a fourth drilling rig was added.