17 Oct 2014 Highest Santos quarterly production in seven years

Santos today announced the highest quarterly production in seven years, with production of 14.0 mmboe - 9% above the previous quarter.

Sales revenue of $1,060 million for the quarter increased 9% on the previous quarter and is up 16% compared to the first nine months of 2013.

Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer David Knox said that the successful ramp-up of the PNG LNG project had driven the company's highest quarterly production result since 2007.

Santos also reported that the GLNG project continues to deliver key construction milestones, including commissioning of the first upstream gas hub, first gas into the gas transmission pipeline, delivery of the final train 2 module and the completion of hydro-testing of the second LNG tank.

"GLNG is approaching 90% complete, it remains on budget and we are on track to deliver first LNG in 2015," Mr Knox said.

Comparative performance at a glance
Corresponding period Q3 2014 Q3 2013 Change
Production (mmboe) 14.0 13.4 +4%
Sales (mmboe) 16.8 15.5 +8%
Sales revenue ($million) 1,060 1,027 +3%
Quarterly comparison Q3 2014 Q2 2014 Change
Production (mmboe) 14.0 12.8 +9%
Sales (mmboe) 16.8 15.1 +11%
Sales revenue ($million) 1,060 974 +9%
Year-to-date comparison 2014 2013 Change
Production (mmboe) 39.0 37.9 +3%
Sales (mmboe) 45.7 42.9 +7%
Sales revenue ($million) 2,947 2,537 +16%
Key Activities for the quarter
  • PNG LNG production reached full capacity in late-July and 23 LNG cargoes were shipped during the quarter.
  • First gas introduced into the GLNG gas transmission pipeline.
  • Delivery of the final GLNG train 2 module to Curtis Island and successful hydro-testing of the second LNG tank.
  • Significant gas-condensate discovery at Lasseter in the Browse Basin.
  • First oil from the Dua project in Vietnam.
  • Acquisitions of exploration acreage offshore Malaysia and Vietnam.

Sales gas, ethane and gas to LNG production of 60.4 petajoules for the quarter was 9% higher than the corresponding quarter, reflecting the successful ramp-up of PNG LNG, partially offset by lower production from the Carnarvon Basin due to extended outages at customer facilities and lower nominations, combined with the planned one-month shutdown of Darwin LNG in the current quarter. Total sales gas, ethane and LNG sales revenues jumped 37% to $483 million for the quarter.

Quarterly crude oil production of 2.4 million barrels was 13% higher than the previous quarter, primarily due to higher production in Vietnam from Chim Sào and the start-up of Dua, combined with higher production in Western Australia. The average oil price for the quarter was A$115 per barrel, 10% lower than the corresponding quarter reflecting lower global oil prices. Total crude oil sales revenues of $470 million for the quarter were 3% lower than the previous quarter due to lower realised oil prices partially offset by higher sales volumes.

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