Booming energy prices have fuelled record profits at Santos, now the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, setting the scene for a bumper earnings season for a sector that has been heavily sold down because of climate concerns.

Free cash flow also hit a record $US1.5 billion ($2.1 billion) in 2021, buoyed by the recovery in global energy demand and constraints in supply, which Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher partly blamed on a choking of investment in new fields amid mounting pressures against fossil fuels.