(Adds detail on results, production, background)
Jan 20 (Reuters) - Australian gas producer Santos Ltd (STO) on Thursday posted a 66% jump in its fourth-quarter sales revenue, boosted by strong prices and sustained demand from Asia and Europe as global economies continued to recover from the pandemic.
Average liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices and forward crude oil prices have logged strong gains over the past year amid tight supply and low inventories of the super-chilled fuel in Europe.
Santos, which became a global top-20 oil and gas firm after its $6.2 billion buyout of Oil Search https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australias-santos-hikes-bid-oil-search-690-bln-2021-08-01 last year, said https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02477194-2A1352029?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4 it earned an average of $13.64 per metric million British thermal unit (mmBtu) for its LNG in the quarter, a more than twofold jump from a year ago.
That boosted its sales revenue to $1.53 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, including contribution from Oil Search since Dec. 10, when its merger with Santos became effective. It marginally missed a $1.57 billion estimate based on Refinitiv's full-year forecast and year-to-date revenue.
Last year, Santos reported sales revenue of $922 million. Output in the December quarter, however, fell to 22.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) from last year's 25.4 mmboe, missing an RBC estimate of 23.6 mmboe. Annual output was 92.1 mmboe, 3.5% higher than a year ago.
Santos said it would provide 2022 guidance with its full-year results on Feb. 16. (([email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))
