Santos reports jumps in production, sales volumes

Australian LNG player Santos, the operator of the GLNG project, reported record sales volumes for the first quarter of the year. 

The company noted in its report on Wednesday sales revenue was up 28 percent tipping just over $1 billion, the second highest quarterly revenue on record.

Santos noted the sales volumes of 22.8 mmboe were 21 percent higher than the corresponding quarter in 2018.

First quarter sales volumes were higher than the prior quarter due primarily to the acquisition of Quadrant Energy in November 2018 partially offset by lower PNG sales volumes due to the timing of LNG shipments.

Santos Managing Director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said, “our operations were however impacted by cyclone activity in Western Australia towards the end of the quarter and also by facility outages in the Cooper Basin.”

First quarter production of 18.4 mmboe was a record for Santos and 33 percent higher than the corresponding quarter, primarily due to sustained strong asset performance and the acquisition of Quadrant Energy.

Production at the Gladstone LNG plant reached 1.4 million tonnes in the first quarter, 14 percent above the prior quarter, and loaded 23 cargoes. The quarter included a two-day total LNG plant shutdown for maintenance. GLNG remains on track to ramp-up LNG sales to 6 mtpa run-rate by the end of 2019.

Santos noted that 87 wells were drilled across the GLNG acreage in the first quarter, with drilling pace on track to deliver 350-400 wells this year. 48 development wells were drilled across Santos’ non-operated Eastern Queensland acreage in the quarter

Santos said the production guidance is maintained at between 71 and 78 mmboe and sales volumes between 88 and 98 mmboe.