SBY boosts Indonesia's stability: Santos

The election of former army general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Indonesia's new president would be positive for Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd, the company's chief executive said.

"I think it will bring more stability to the country," Santos chief executive John Ellice-Flint told AAP.

Santos, Australia's third largest oil and gas producer, has interests and operations in Indonesia, Australia, the United States, Papua New Guinea and Egypt.

"It was a democratic election and you have got somebody who is appreciated by the majority of the people to be elected in that position," Ellice-Flint said of Yudhoyono, who holds an unassailable lead in the Indonesian presidential race with more than 60 per cent of the vote counted.

"I'm looking forward to it. I think it will bring some changes and it should be good."

Ellice-Flint was in New York for the 2004 Merrill Lynch Australia & New Zealand Investor Conference.

The Santos chief said with oil prices at record highs Australian oil producers were in a strong position.

"We could probably talk about oil prices for a long time," Ellice-Flint told the conference.

"But, I think the thing to note about oil prices is that not every barrel is the same. The importance here is there's a lot of heavy, sour crude oil in the world, but it's the sweet crude that drives the kerosene, the transportation, the aviation fuel at premium prices.

"It's that type of crude we produce in Australia." (*)