The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price is having a solid finish to the week. In afternoon trade, the energy producer's shares are up over 2% to $7.92.
This compares favourably to the ASX 200 index, which is down 0.5% at the time of writing.
It also means that the Santos share price is now up approximately 20% since the start of the year.
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Why is the Santos share price pushing higher?
Investors have been buying Santos shares today after oil prices continued to rise during overnight trade.
According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price was up 1% to US$88.61 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price was up 1.3% to US$94.57 a barrel.
OPEC's controversial plan to cut production by 2 million barrels per day in November boosted prices to three-week highs.
It isn't just Santos that is rising today. Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) are also in positive territory this afternoon, which has helped drive the S&P/ASX 200 Energy index 1.1% higher.
Can Santos' shares keep rising?
Despite its strong gain in 2022, the team at Morgans believes the Santos share price has room to climb higher from here.
Its analysts currently have an add rating and $9.30 price target on the company's shares. This implies potential upside of 17% over the next 12 months.
Morgans commented:
The resilience of STO's growth profile and diversified earnings base see it well placed to outperform against a backdrop of a broader sector recovery. While pre-FEED, we see Dorado as likely to provide attractive growth for STO, while its recent acquisition increasing its stake in Darwin LNG has increased our confidence in Barossa's development. PNG growth meanwhile remains a riskier proposition, with the government adamant it will keep a larger share of economic rents while operator Exxon has significantly deferred growth plans across its global portfolio.
