Santos more than doubles underlying profit in 2022
Australian energy company Santos’ full-year underlying profit for 2022 more than doubled owing to higher oil and LNG prices, the company said on February 22.
Santos booked an underlying profit, which strips out extraordinary items, of $2.46bn for the year ended December 31, up from $946mn a year earlier, an increase of 160%. The reported net profit after tax of $2.1bn includes the previously announced impairment charges of $224mn after tax, losses on commodity hedging and one-off costs associated with acquisitions and disposals.
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The company’s production during the year stood at a record 103.2mn boe, up 12% year/year. Sales revenue was up 65% yr/yr to $7.8bn.
Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said the company delivered record production, free cash flow and underlying earnings in 2022 as it benefited from strong customer demand for the products, higher commodity prices and disciplined cost management.
“Strong free cash flows mean we are in a position to deliver higher shareholder returns through an increase in the final dividend and previously announced increase in the on-market buyback, consistent with our disciplined capital management framework,” he said.
Santos has announced a 78% increase in the final dividend. Its average realised oil price was up 45% yr/yr to $110.1/b while the average realised LNG price was up 68% yr/yr to $15.5/mn Btu.
The Moomba carbon capture and storage project was 40% complete at the end of the year and on track for the first injection of CO2 in 2024, Santos said.