Santos Ltd., Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer, posted an 82 percent slump in first-half profit after a fall in oil prices.
Net income fell to A$37 million ($27 million) in the six months ending in June, from A$206 million a year earlier, the Adelaide-based company said Friday in a statement. That compared with an estimate of A$41 million from Macquarie Group Ltd.
Santos Ltd. Chief Executive Officer David Knox will step down after seven years in the role as the Australian oil producer reviews its options amid a plunge in crude prices, the company said Friday.
Knox will depart once a successor has been named, the Adelaide-based company said in a statement after reporting an 82 percent drop in first-half profit.
The plunge in oil prices has put pressure on Santos as the company prepares to start its $18.5 billion liquefied natural gas project in Queensland state. The Australian energy producer has cut spending and jobs while flagging the possibility of asset sales as it copes with the oil market downturn.
Santos said earlier this week that the project is on track for first LNG around the end of the third quarter.