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Santos down after profit tumbles
ADELAIDE, Australia (CNN) -- Shares in Santos Ltd closed lower Wednesday after the Australian oil and gas producer reported a fall of almost 28 percent in 2002 net profit to Aust. $322.1 million ($190 million). Santos, the largest gas producer for the Australian market, said the figure took account of a A$70 million exploration writeoff, mainly from drilling in New Guinea, Indonesia and Australia. Sales in 2002 were a record 57 million barrels of oil equivalent. Santos shares closed 1.17 percent lower at A$5.92. That compares with a one-year high of A$6.52 seen last August. CEO John Ellice-Flint described the 2002 result as "solid", with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization exceeding the A$1 billion mark for the third year in a row. Major discoveriesHe said exploration in 2002 brought new oil and gas discoveries in Australia, the United States, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Three of these -- the Mutineer and Exeter wells off the coast of Western Australia and Oyong field in offshore East Java -- were major discoveries. Ellice-Flint said a key achievement in 2002 was the signing of new 15-year contracts with energy retailer AGL for the supply of gas to eastern Australia from the Cooper Basin field in central Australia. Long-term, Santos is looking to potential LNG sales from the Bayu-Undan field in the Timor Sea between Australia and Timor. Santos is forecasting exploration spending of A$146 million this year, compared with A$133 million in 2002.
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