Higher oil and gas production combined with stronger prices have boosted Santos Ltd’s first quarter sales revenue by 50 per cent.

Newly acquired assets helped push up the company’s March quarter oil and gas production by 13 per cent to 12.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), compared to the same period in 2011.

New production came from the Reindeer and Spar gas projects in Western Australia, the Wortel gas asset in Indonesia, and the Chim Sao oil platform off Vietnam.

Chief executive David Knox said the company was beginning to reap the benefits of on-time project start-ups in 2011.

“Our production compared to last year has increased as a result of adding four new projects to the base business,” Mr Knox said in a statement.

Output also rose at Santos’ Cooper Basin oil assets straddling the South Australia and Queensland borders.

Sales revenue surged to $754 million, up 50 per cent on the first quarter of last year, although it was up only one per cent compared to the December quarter.

The average gas price received by the company of $5.21 per gigajoule was up 24 per cent, driven by stronger Indonesian gas prices and better returns for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Santos maintained its full year production target of 51 to 55 mmboe.

Mr Knox said the company was focused on delivering the ExxonMobil-led LNG project in Papua New Guinea, which is 13.5 per cent held by Santos, and the LNG project at Gladstone, Queensland that it operates.

He said both projects remained on track for first production in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Santos shares added four cents to $14.04.