Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) is an Australian energy giant.
The Adelaide-based outfit is one of Australia's biggest domestic gas providers and a leading supplier of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Asia-Pacific region.
And shares of this ASX 200 energy heavyweight have been riding a roller coaster so far this year.
At the start of January, investors could have bought Santos shares for $6.77 each.
By early April, they tumbled to as low as $5.34 apiece as global economic uncertainty took its toll.
However, a $30 billion takeover bid for Santos helped to drive its share price sharply north by mid-June.
After all that, Santos shares are up by 14% since 2025 kicked into gear, trading at $7.73 each at the close of trade yesterday.
So, has today's trading update for the second quarter of the year made any dents?
Let's take a look.
Steady as she goes
At the time of writing, Santos shares are priced at $7.74, a modest 0.13% increase from yesterday's closing price.
In comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is also having a strong day, up by 0.62% at the time of writing.
So, there was little to get excited about for Santos investors with the company's share price steady following the release of its quarterly update.
Having said that, the announcement itself appears to contain some positive news for shareholders.
What happened?
Santos reported that its production volumes during the second quarter increased by 1% from its first quarter performance in 2025.
Sales volumes also lifted by 3% during this period.
And notably, the company generated US$620 million in free cash flow, up from US$465 million in the previous quarter.
This solid performance takes the total free cash flow for the first half of 2025 to about US$1.1 billion.
In addition, Santos is approaching the development of two key growth projects, Barossa and Pikka, which could help lift total production by 30% in 2027.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Gallagher, said:
Free cash flow of approximately $1.1 billion in the first half positions the company well as we near the start-up of our major development projects, Barossa and Pikka.
He added:
Strong execution this quarter has kept our major development projects on schedule with production growth imminent.
As such, Santos appears to be ticking several boxes from an operational point of view.
Looking ahead
Santos also tweaked its guidance for the remainder of 2025, but no major changes were reported.
The company slightly narrowed its production forecast to reflect the impact of flooding at its Cooper Basin operations.
It also reduced the outlook for its unit production cost following the group's strong first-half performance.
Other key metrics, such as expected sales volume and capital costs, remained unchanged.
Elephant in the Room
There is little doubt that the key talking point for Santos is the company's proposed buyout.
Here, a non-binding indicative proposal from a group known as the XRG Consortium is offering to acquire all outstanding Santos shares for US$5.76 per share in cash.
In Aussie dollars, this equates to about $8.89 per share and represents about 15% upside on the current share price.
Not a bad return as long as it gets over the line. And as things stand, nothing is set in stone.
The latest update saw Santos enter into a process and exclusivity deed with XRG.
This agreement allows the consortium to undertake due diligence on Santos and negotiate a binding scheme implementation deed that could potentially conclude the takeover.
For the time being, we await further updates to see how this takeover story unfolds.
