The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price is down 2% after the ASX energy share announced its FY25 result.
Santos is one of the largest oil and gas businesses on the ASX.
Santos FY25 result
Here are some of the highlights from the 12 months to December 2025:
- Sales revenue declined by 8% to $4.9 billion
- Production costs declined by 17% to $617 million
- EBITDAX (EBITDA explained and it also excludes exploration costs) declined 8.5% to $3.4 billion
- EBIT sank 24.5% to $1.45 billion
- Underlying net profit declined 25.2% to $898 million
- Statutory net profit drops 35.3% to $818 million
- Final dividend per share of US$0.103
What happened with the result?
Santos said that it delivered the best unit production costs in a decade of $6.78 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE). It also revealed the best-on-record personal safety performance and 10-year best process safety performance.
The company said that its sales volume was 93.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, generating revenue of $4.9 billion.
Santos also said that it’s targeting a headcount reduction of around 10% with a goal of “rightsizing” the business.
Project commentary
Santos said that the projects of Barossa and Darwin LNG were delivered “within six months” of the original schedule and within the original budget.
Pikka phase 1 remains on track to deliver “first oil” late in the first quarter of 2026 as it moves into the final stages of commissioning. The project is planned to ramp-up production to its full rate by the end of the second quarter. Santos said drilling results are “encouraging”, with test rates indicating an average initial production rate of approximately 7,000 barrels per day per well, under expected operating conditions.
Outlook for the Santos share price
Management said the business has completed two major development projects that will “position Santos with a world class asset portfolio, that can continue to grow” its business with an all-in breakeven oil price of between $45 to $50 per barrel to 2030.
In 2026, it’s expecting its sales volume to be between 101 MMboe to 111 MMboe, with unit production costs of between $6.95 to $7.45 per BOE.
While costs are expected to increase per BOE, the annual production is expected to show a noticeable increase.
The business is doing what it needs to deliver stronger operational results. However, it doesn’t control what happens with energy prices, so it’s not one of the ASX shares I’d want to buy for my portfolio.
There are other ASX dividend shares that have a more consistent earnings pattern that would appeal to me more than Santos shares.
