Santos upgrades full year expectations

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Santos has increased its full-year production expectations following another stellar quarter of production.

Santos on Thursday upgraded its 2017 sales volume guidance from between 77-million and 82-million barrels of oil equivalent, to between 79-million and 82-million barrels of oil equivalent, while production guidance has increased from between 57-million and 60-million barrels of oil equivalent to between 58-million and 60-million barrels of oil equivalent.

Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher told shareholders that production for the three months to September was up 2% on the previous quarter, to 15-million barrels of oil equivalent, driven by higher production from the Cooper basin, Queensland, Papua New Guinea and Western Australian gas assets.

Sales volumes for the third quarter were in line with the previous quarter, at 21.5-million barrels of oil equivalent, while revenues were up by 3% to $793-million, owing to higher liquefied natural gas, condensate and liquefied petroleum gas prices.

“The company’s third quarter results continue to highlight the value of our disciplined operating model in delivering a low-cost, reliable and high performance business that can generate significant free cash flow in the current oil price environment,” Gallagher said.

“Compared to the end of 2016, our net debt position is $700-million lower at $2.8-billion and our forecast free cash flow breakeven for 2017 sits at $33 per barrel.”