Oil and gas producer Santos Limited (ASX: STO) completed the sale of non-core Asian assets to Ophir Energy Plc at the sale price of US $221 million. The completion comes after the announcement made on 3 May 2018 stating the sale of the company’s late-life non-core Asian portfolio to LSE listed oil and gas explorer Ophir Energy Plc.
On the sale completion, Santos has received cash proceeds of US$144 million after making standard adjustments in the sale price. However, as stated previously the company’s sees this sale as an exit from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh. [optin-monster-shortcode id="wxhmli4jjedneglg1trq"]
In the media release to ASX, Santos stated that with the strong free cash flows the company has reduced the net debt by approximately US $2.2 billion as at 31 August 2018 and it would be further reduced to reach the target of US $2 billion net debt by October, driven by Asia sale proceeds received in September.
Following the softening of oil and gas market in US, S&P/ASX 200 Energy index fell 1.84% to $11,357.50 on 7 September 2018 (1:09 PM AEST). But to the good news to energy sector, it has been heard that Saudi Arabia is aiming to surge the oil prices with the benchmark crude price hovering between US$70 and US$80 a barrel.
Witnessing existing slump in energy sector, Santos’ share price dropped by 2.24% to $6.540 on 7 September 2018 (1:09 PM AEST). There has been performance change of +71.54% over the last 12 months.
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