Santos posts record underlying profit on gas price surge

[BENGALURU] Australia's Santos reported a record annual underlying profit on Wednesday on the back of surging oil and gas prices and said it expected production to rise in 2022 thanks to its takeover of Oil Search.

Energy firms around the globe have seen their profits swell after a sharp rise in prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other linked commodities in 2021 due to tight supply and the economic recovery from the pandemic.

Santos, which became a global top-20 oil and gas firm after its US$6.2 billion buyout of Oil Search last year, forecast 2022 production between 100 and 110 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). Its output in 2021 was 92.1 mmboe.

The expected jump comes despite an estimated production drop of 10 mmboe at Bayu-Undan, the company said.

Santos posted an underlying net profit of US$946 million for the year ended Dec 31, compared with US$287 million a year earlier. The figure was roughly in-line with analysts'estimates, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

The oil and gas explorer declared a final dividend of 8.5 cents per share, taking its annual dividend to 14 cents per share, which was higher than expectations of 12 cents a share. REUTERS