According to Reuters article published on February 22, 2023, Santos Ltd (STO.AX) lifted its final dividend by more than 77% on Wednesday after reporting a more than doubling of profit on beefed-up LNG portfolio following its merger with Oil Search and surging oil and gas prices, sending its shares over 4% higher.
Energy firms globally are seeing their profits balloon-up in 2022, as LNG prices remained higher after European sanctions on Russian energy exports, squeezing an already tight oil and gas market.
Adelaide-based gas producer Santos also saw its underlying annual profit shoot up from increased LNG position in Papua New Guinea after its merger with Oil Search in late 2021, boosting its annual output 12%, with average realised price for LNG up 68% at $15.5 per million British thermal units.
"Demand for our products has remained strong in both Australia and internationally, due to increased demand and shortages of supply from producing nations because of global underinvestment in new supply sources," said Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher.
Underlying profit rose to $2.46 billion for the year ended Dec. 31 from $946 million a year earlier, but missed a Citi estimate of $2.75 billion.
Santos declared a final dividend of 15.1 cents per share, much higher than the 8.5 cents dividend it paid a year ago.
Brokerage RBC Capital Markets said the annual result was a slight miss on its own and the consensus estimates, but said the company declared a final dividend that was better than RBC and consensus forecasts.
Shares in Santos climbed as much as 4.6% to A$7.12 and were on track for their best day in more than 4 months.
