Oil and gas producer Santos today announced record sales revenue of $1.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2013.

The company said the record result was driven by the company’s highest oil production in six years, strong oil prices and higher third party sales volumes.

Total sales revenue for 2013 of $3.6 billion was also a record and 12 per cent higher than 2012.

Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer David Knox said that the last quarter of 2013 saw the company continue to make strong progress in the delivery of its major projects, underpinning its strategy to expose its resources to Asian markets.

“In the second half of 2014 the first of these projects, PNG LNG, is on track to commence LNG shipments to Asia, delivering a significant boost in production and cashflow for the company,” Knox said. “We are very pleased with the progress being made on the project, with commissioning of the upstream and LNG plant facilities well underway.

“Last year we continued to increase our understanding of our shale resources in the Cooper Basin, with the Moomba-194 and 191 wells delivering encouraging results.

“The proximity of these resources to existing infrastructure provides us with a real advantage, and our exploration efforts will continue in 2014.”

The company’s statement said production in 2013 was in line with the revised guidance provided to the market on 4 December 2013.

‘While guidance for production costs remains unchanged, depreciation, depletion and amortisation guidance has been increased by 7 per cent, reflecting updated operator estimates for future development costs and anticipated changes to reserves bookings for Australian offshore assets.”

Royalty-related taxation expense guidance has been updated to reflect the 2013 average realised oil price of approximately A$120 per barrel (previous guidance assumed A$100 per barrel).