Santos shares have jumped after the oil and gas producer made its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the $18.5 billion GLNG project in Queensland.
The LNG shipment is headed for South Korea, three weeks as the flagship joint venture project at Curtis Island started production.
Santos chief executive David Knox said the GLNG project near Gladstone was the largest the company had undertaken, and has been delivered on time and within budget.
"GLNG is a robust project and will generate strong cash flows for the business for decades to come," Mr Knox said.
The first cargo from GLNG strengthened the company's position as a major LNG supplier to Asia, he said.
GLNG will have capacity to produce 7.8 million tonnes of LNG.
The project produces coal seam gas (CSG) in the Surat and Bowen Basins and converts it to LNG.
Santos also said the second production train is expected to be ready to start up in the second quarter of 2016.
More than 10,000 people have worked on the project over more than 95 million work hours since 2011 and Santos said it had invested more than $15 billion in the project Australia-wide.
Santos is the operator of GLNG project alongside Petronas, Total and Kogas.
Shares in Santos gained 20 cents, or 3.75 per cent, to $5.54.
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