The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price has been pushing higher on Wednesday and is up 1.5% to $5.09 in late afternoon trade.
Part of this gain can be attributed to a rise in the oil price overnight after the American Petroleum Institute reported a surprise reduction of 2.739 million barrels of United States crude oil inventories for the week ending March 16.
The market had been expecting a build-up of approximately 2.5 million barrels of crude oil.
Unsurprisingly other producers such as BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) have also climbed notably higher today.
In addition to this, Santos was given a lift after the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority accepted the Barossa-Caldita offshore project proposal.
This is a major step in the development approval process and now paves the way for the submission of activity-specific environment plans.
Santos holds a 25% interest in the Barossa-Caldita joint venture along with partners ConocoPhillips (37.5%) and SK E&S (37.5%).
Pleasingly for shareholders, the Santos share price has been a strong performer over the last 12 months with a 37% gain. If the oil price continues to climb higher, these gains may not be over just yet.
