Gas producer Santos increased its Western Australian domestic gas production in the second quarter of this year, while ending production at its Ningaloo Vision vessel off the state’s coast.
Gas producer Santos increased its Western Australian domestic gas production in the second quarter of this year, while ending production at its Ningaloo Vision vessel off the state’s coast.
Santos sold 6 million barrels of oil equivalent from its WA operations during the quarter for $225 million worth of revenue, up from 5.3mmboe in the first quarter of the year.
The Kevin Gallagher-led producer, which is currently the subject of a takeover move by a consortium including Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), attributed the result to a successful well intervention campaign at the John Brookes platform.
It said the Halyard-2 facility had been steady in its performance, while the gas plant at Varanus Island had averaged 90 per cent reliability in the first half of the year.
Decommissioning remains a key concern for Santos in Western Australia, where Mr Gallagher has previously flagged an intent to operate the local business at a rate which covers the substantial cost of retiring and remediating local assets.
Production from Santos’ Ningaloo Vision floating production, storage and offloading vessel off the Exmouth coast came to an end during the period, and follows the retirement of wells at three more gas fields.
The facility, which has operated since 2010, produced more than 60 million barrels of low-sulphur crude oil from the Van Gogh, Coniston and Novara fields.
“Suspension of operations at the Ningaloo Vision FPSO is progressing as planned, with sail-away expected to occur in the third quarter of 2025,” Santos said in its quarterly report.
“Decommissioning of the final three wells across the Mutineer, Exeter, Fletcher and Finucane (MEFF) fields was completed during the quarter, ending the MEFF eleven-well decommissioning campaign.”
Santos spent $54 million on decommissioning across its portfolio during the June quarter, a figure which has not been broken down by jurisdiction and is part of a broader $243 million sustaining capital outlay.
The company is continuing front-end engineering and design work on its proposed Reindeer carbon capture and storage operation at the namesake gas field, while negotiating with potential customers for over commercial carbon abatement opportunities.
The Barossa project over the border in the Northern Territory is on track for production in the current quarter.
The Pikka project in Alaska is scheduled to join Barossa in production in the middle of 2026.
The $29 billion move by Adnoc and global investment firm Carlyle for Santos was announced last month and has been unanimously recommended by the South Australian headquartered company in the absence of a superior offer.
It remains subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Santos shares were steady in early trade, at $7.73.
