asx sto industry energy founded 18 march 1954 headquarters 60 flinders street adelaide south australia australia key people kevin gallagher ceo products gas and petroleum exploration ; the production treatment and marketing of coal seam gas csg liquefied natural gas lng crude oil condensate naphtha and liquid petroleum gas ; transportation by pipeline of crude oil revenue a 2.762 billion 2008 1 net income a 1.65 billion 2008 1 number of employees 1 200 2015 website www.santos.com santos ltd. is a large predominantly australian owned oil and gas company . its name is an acronym for south australia northern territory oil search . contents 1 operations 1.1 international activities 1.2 lng 1.3 financial results 1.4 lobbying & political donations 2 incidents 2.1 moomba explosions south australia 2.1.1 2001 2.1.2 2004 2.2 sidoarjo mud flow indonesia 2.3 port bonython groundwater contamination south australia 2.4 pilliga csg wastewater spill new south wales 2.5 jackson oil spill queensland 2.6 uranium contamination of narrabri aquifer new south wales 2.7 light pollution from gas flares 3 water resource use 4 sponsorship 4.1 in south australia 4.2 in queensland 4.3 opposition to santos sponsorship 5 fossil fuel divestment 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links operations edit santos ltd headquarters adelaide 2016 santos is one of australia s largest domestic gas producer supplying sales gas to all mainland australian states and territories ethane to sydney and oil and liquids to domestic and international customers . 2 the company s core business was built on gas and oil discoveries in the cooper basin predominantly spanning north east south australia and south west queensland . these gas reserves are the main source of natural gas to australia s eastern states . santos is the primary venture partner and operator of natural gas processing facilities at moomba in south australia and ballera in queensland and pipelines connecting those facilities with adelaide sydney melbourne brisbane rockhampton and mount isa . citation needed one of the pipelines is the moomba adelaide pipeline system which carries gas to adelaide and regional south australia . it has made significant discoveries in the browse basin off the northwest of western australia . on 22 august 2014 the company announced a major gas condensate discovery at the lasseter 1 exploration well in wa 274 p in the basin in which santos has a 30 % interest in company with chevron 50 % and inpex 20 % . it was the second major discovery by the company in the area in two years . 3 santos also loads product onto small cape vessels at port bonython in south australia . santos drill rig near innamincka in cooper basin 1959 santos has its headquarters in adelaide . it also has offices in brisbane perth and jakarta . as of february 2016 the company s ceo is kevin gallagher . he was preceded by david knox . international activities edit the company also participates in on and off shore oil and gas exploration and production ventures throughout australia in the timor gap indonesia papua new guinea india bangladesh egypt vietnam and kyrgyzstan . 2 lng edit santos has an interest in the darwin lng project exporting liquefied natural gas to customers in japan . it is also developer of the gladstone lng project in queensland and is a partner in the png lng project . 2 financial results edit santos s production for 2008 was 54.4 million barrels 8 650 000 m3 of oil equivalent . 1 earnings before interest taxes depreciation amortizations and exploration expenses for the period was a 2.8 billion representing after tax profit of a 1.65 billion . 1 on 22 august 2014 the company said its oil production was at its highest level in six years . for the first half of 2014 santos recorded sales revenue of 1.8 billion an increase of 20 % on the comparable period the previous year . sales volumes rose by 5 % to 28.9 million barrels of oil equivalent . as a result of the company writing off its investment in a coal seam gas project in indonesia the 2014 first half profit being down 24 % at 206 million . 3 in 2015 santos financial troubles became more evident as the share price crashed to 1 3rd of its value from the previous year . it hit a 12 year low and has stayed low since . this occurred because of mounting debt and an oil price slump . ceo david knox was forced to leave with chairman peter coates stepping into the role and leading a strategic review of the gas company . options of partial asset sale even takeovers has been speculated including no options will be ruled out from consideration but neither is any particular option a preferred course at this time mr coates said in a statement . 4 lobbying & political donations edit santos has engaged adelaide based consultancy bespoke approach to lobby the australian government and the state governments of new south wales 5 and queensland . 6 other lobbyists which have represented santos include kreab gavin anderson australia ltd and craig emerson economics . 7 in the financial year 2012 13 santos ltd gave donations directly to labor liberal lnp and national political parties at state and federal levels . donations are tabled below . 8 jurisdiction liberal lnp labor national federal 12 950 50 829 10 030 south australia 34 367 18 590 queensland 18 303 3 300 new south wales 500 western australia 5 910 2 550 northern territory 5 000 tasmania 2 500 sturt fec sa 1000 incidents edit moomba explosions south australia edit 2001 edit in june 2001 a pump exploded at the liquids pumping station killing process operator colin jeremy sutton . another worker received burns to the neck and hand . in the south australian state industrial relations court santos pleaded guilty to three counts that it had failed in its most basic responsibility as an employer by not ensuring its employees were safe from injury and risk to health . the company was fined 105 000 . the magistrate said santos had failed to supervise sutton or train him in the use of an emergency shutdown device . 2004 edit on january 1 2004 an explosion occurred at santos moomba processing facility . the blast was traced to the liquids recovery plant lrp where an inlet manifold and a related flange weld both failed after corrosion by mercury . mercury was released along with a cloud of flammable gases including methane ethane propane and butane . workers saw the cloud and raised the alarm shutting down the plant and evacuating to designated safety points . 9 some workers allegedly did not hear the emergency alarms . 10 the gas cloud ignited on contact with a heating unit 150 metres away and an explosion followed . the plant was seriously damaged . 9 moomba workers who sought to remain anonymous told the australian newspaper on january 5 that the company was running a cowboy operation and that it was luck not management that had prevented any loss of life . they also said that the emergency muster area was too close to the plant in the event of a major tank explosion . 10 gas supplies to south australia and new south wales were interrupted leading to down time in the manufacturing sector and short term rationing measures in both states while repairs were made . santos spent 40 million on remedial action following the incident . in 2011 the south australian industrial relations court ruled that 13 employees had been placed at risk due to critical safety shortcomings . these included an inadequate risk assessment which failed to identify the likelihood of plant failing due to liquid metal rendering it brittle . the company pleaded guilty to breaching the occupational health safety and welfare act after a safework prosecution and was fined 84 000 . 9 sidoarjo mud flow indonesia edit nasa satellite image of the sidoarjo mud flow site november 11 2008 . in may 2006 the sidoarjo mud flow disaster occurred in east java indonesia . controversy exists surrounding the probable cause of the disaster which has displaced approximately 10 000 people and covered villages farms and industrial areas with mud . the eruption is ongoing though since 2011 the rate of flow has reduced . 11 as of 2013 the contended probable causes are drilling for oil and gas an earthquake with its epicenter some 250 km distant or a combination of the two . santos owned an 18 percent stake in the project which was drilling in the area at the time under the control of pt lapindo brantas and in partnership with private indonesian oil and gas company medcoenergi 50 % and 32 % stakeholders respectively . santos stake in the project was sold to minarak labuan the owner of pt lapindo brantas in december 2008 . labuan also received a payment from santos of us22 .5 million a33 .9 million to support long term mud management efforts . the amount was covered by existing provision for costs relating to the incident . santos had provisioned for us79 million a119 .3 million in costs associated with the disaster . santos had stated in june 2006 that it maintained appropriate insurance coverage for these types of occurrences . 12 port bonython groundwater contamination south australia edit santos port bonython facility and hydrocarbon export jetty south australia . in may 2008 groundwater contamination was reported to the environment protection authority epa following detection at santos port bonython site spencer gulf south australia . hydrocarbons were found floating on and in the groundwater . 150 inspection wells were later established and a 450m long cement bentonite wall was constructed to stop the further spread of contamination off site including to the marine environment . 13 14 in may 2012 santos reported declining rates of hydrocarbon recovery from groundwater extraction wells and claimed that their remediation efforts were working . 15 pilliga csg wastewater spill new south wales edit in 2011 a 10 000 litre spill of toxic coal seam gas water occurred killing native vegetation and soil . the water contained dangerous levels of lead mercury sodium and other heavy metals . in 2015 this spill site can still be seen as unsuccessful rehabilitation is deemed near impossible due to the elevated salt levels in the soil . 16 jackson oil spill queensland edit in may 2013 an uncontrolled oil spill was reported in santos zeus field near jackson in queensland s remote south west . the flow lasted almost a week before international experts were able to contain it . the rate of flow was estimated at 50 000 litres per day . 17 uranium contamination of narrabri aquifer new south wales edit in 2013 it was discovered that underground aquifers in the pilliga forest has been contaminated with toxic levels of heavy metals and uranium 20 times above the safe drinking levels . this occurred from leaking coal seam gas evaporative ponds at the bibblewindi water storage site . all previous attempts to remove that pollution has failed . 18 light pollution from gas flares edit in 2014 astronomers from australia s premier observatory siding spring observatory in the neighbouring town of coonabarabran highlighted the potential damage being caused by artificial light pollution and flaring . flaring occurs as a cheap way to dispose of unwanted gas . it also increases light pollution in the night sky . with the plan of 7 major gasfields in the region astronomers warned of the loss of australia s only optical science research facility and what that would mean for future discoveries . astronomers are also concerned of the material dispersed from coal seam gas operations will be corrosive to telescope mirrors . 19 water resource use edit santos ltd s water extraction volumes by source within south australia 2009 to 2013 . santos activities draw significantly on available