Australia’s Santos reported a record sales revenue in the fourth quarter on the back of high LNG prices and strong production.
The independent LNG producer said on Thursday that stronger commodity prices and higher sales volumes had delivered quarterly sales revenue of $1.5 billion, up 34 percent, and record annual sales revenue of $4.7 billion, a rise of 39 percent.
In addition, the firm reported a record annual production of 92.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), inclusive of 1.7 mmboe from the Oil Search assets.
Santos and PNG-focused Oil Search completed their merger deal worth about A$22 billion ($15.7 billion) last month.
Santos said its average realized LNG price of $13.64 per MMBtu in the fourth quarter increased when compared to $10.36 per MMBtu in the prior quarter. It rose more than two times from $5.34 per MMBtu the firm logged in the fourth quarter last year.
The higher average realized LNG price reflects the linkage of sales contracts to an improving lagged Japan Customs-cleared Crude (JCC) price and higher JKM spot prices, it said.
The company’s LNG projects shipped 68 cargoes in the fourth quarter, of which 12 cargoes were sold at JKM spot prices.
Also, the Santos-operated GLNG plant delivered a record 6.4 million tonnes of LNG sales in 2021.
Santos expects free cash flow to be around $1.5 billion in 2021, more than double the level in 2020.