Santos Post Record Sales in Q4 2018

Australian energy producer Santos (ASX:STO) has released its Q4 2018 sales revenue. The results highlight record sales during the last quarter of the of 2018.

As quoted from the press release:

Record sales revenue and strong production

• Record quarterly sales revenue of AU$1,043 million, up 7 percent and including record quarterly LNG sales revenue of AU$449 million, up 11 percent
• Record annual sales revenue of AU$3,696 million, up 19 percent.
• Fourth quarter production up 6 percent to 15.9 mmboe due to sustained strong performance from the core portfolio and acquisition of
• Quadrant Energy, partially offset by the sale of the non-core Asian assets

Onshore activity levels increasing within disciplined operating model

• A record 305 wells in GLNG drilled in 2018, up 77 percent. Expect to drill 350-400 wells in 2019
• 85 wells drilled in the Cooper Basin in 2018, up 40 percent. Expect to drill ~100 wells in 2019, including up to
  16 exploration wells

Cooper Basin exploration and appraisal success

• The Cooper Basin exploration program resulted in five new field discoveries (four gas and one oil) and at Moomba South, four appraisal wells targeting a significant 2C resource have been brought on-line
• The Moomba South program also discovered new plays in the Granite Wash and Tirrawarra sandstone which are being assessed for further appraisal

Quadrant Energy acquisition completed on 27 November 2018

• On completion, Santos paid an amount of $1.93 billion, comprising the purchase price of AU$2.15 billion less completion adjustments and cash acquired

Cash generative core portfolio. Balance sheet supportive of growth profile

• As at 31 December 2018, Santos had cash and cash equivalents of AU$1.3 billion and total debt of AU$4.9 billion, resulting in net debt of AU$3.6 billion and gearing of approximately 33 percent.

Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said: “In 2018, Santos delivered higher production in the onshore business and acquired Quadrant Energy which will provide a significant boost to our production in 2019.”

“Our cash generative asset portfolio set new records for quarterly and annual sales revenues, notwithstanding the divestment of our non-core Asian assets during the year, while our low cost and disciplined operating model enabled more investment in exploration and appraisal to improve ongoing organic resource and reserve replacement.”

Click here to read the full announcement