Santos

Santos Ltd. (South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search) is an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company, with its headquarters in Adelaide, South Australia. It owns liquefied natural gas (LNG), pipeline gas, and oil assets. It is the biggest supplier of natural gas in Australia, with its plants in the Cooper Basin in South Australia and South West Queensland supplying the eastern states of Australia. Its operations also extend to the seas off Western Australia and Northern Territory. The company has been criticised by environmentalists and others for its high level of greenhouse gas emissions, its lobbying of political parties, and various incidents causing contamination. Santos provides sponsorship of several arts festivals and bodies, charities, and the University of Adelaide's Australian School of Petroleum. History Santos was incorporated on 18 March 1954, with its name an acronym of South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search. Its core business was initially built on gas discoveries in the Cooper Basin, South Australia, with the discovery and development of the Gidgealpa 2 well in 1963 and Moomba 1 in 1966. It signed supply contracts with the South Australian Gas Company, the Electricity Trust of South Australia and the Australian Gas Light Company, commencing supply in 1969. After oil was discovered at Tirrawarra, near Moomba, South Australia, in the early 1970s, the company developed its liquid supply operations, which included a plant at Moomba and a fractionation and loading facility at Port Bonython.