Santos Limited is an Australian oil and gas producer headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker STO. It produces gas, LNG, condensate and crude oil in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the United States, and owns the processing, pipeline and liquefaction infrastructure that carries those volumes to domestic buyers and export customers. Kevin Gallagher is managing director and chief executive.
Seventy years in the Cooper Basin
The company takes its name from South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search and was founded in 1954, making its first commercial gas discovery at Gidgealpa 2 in the Cooper Basin in 1963 and following it with the Moomba 1 discovery in 1966. Gas from those fields reached Adelaide homes and businesses from 1969, and Moomba remains the processing hub for the basin, where Santos is also developing carbon capture and storage. The modern group took shape through the merger with Oil Search, which became effective on 17 December 2021 under a scheme that exchanged 0.6275 Santos shares for each Oil Search share and brought a portfolio of Papua New Guinea and Alaska assets with it.
Australian gas and LNG
In Queensland, coal seam gas from the Surat and Bowen basins is piped about 420 kilometres to the two-train GLNG plant on Curtis Island at Gladstone, which has nameplate capacity of 7.8 million tonnes a year and shipped its first cargo in October 2015. Santos holds 30% of the joint venture, established by agreement dated 13 January 2011, alongside Petronas and TotalEnergies with 27.5% each and KOGAS with 15%, and GLNG typically loads about two cargoes a week.
The Barossa gas and condensate project in the Timor Sea, about 285 kilometres north-west of Darwin, is the other large Australian development. Santos operates it with a 50% interest, with PRISM Energy International Australia holding 37.5% and JERA Australia 12.5%, and the roughly USD 6.1 billion project feeds the life-extended Darwin LNG plant through the BW Opal floating production vessel. The first LNG cargo left in January 2026 for the Sakai terminal in Osaka, Darwin LNG has been producing at about 97% of planned rates, and the first Barossa condensate cargo followed in July 2026.
Alaska and Papua New Guinea
On Alaska's North Slope, Santos operates the Pikka unit with 51% and Repsol holds 49%. First oil from the phase one development was announced on 17 May 2026, with crude flowing through the sales line into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System; output was expected to reach 20,000 barrels a day within weeks and to plateau at 80,000 barrels a day during the third quarter of 2026. A first crude cargo was shipped in August 2026.
In Papua New Guinea, Santos is a partner in PNG LNG and agreed on 7 September 2026 to buy an extra 3.3% of the Papua LNG project from TotalEnergies for USD 189 million. That takes its participating interest to 21% after the State back-in and is expected to lift its equity LNG output from the project by about 19% to roughly 1.2 million tonnes a year. The transaction came alongside a change of project operator to ExxonMobil PNG Antelope as the partners work towards a final investment decision planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. Santos also spudded its first Beetaloo Basin appraisal well in September 2026 as part of a drilling campaign in the Northern Territory.
Half-year 2026 results
The company reported results for the six months to 30 June 2026 on 19 August 2026. Production of 45.6 million barrels of oil equivalent was 3% higher than in the same period of 2025, sales revenue was USD 2.6 billion, EBITDAX USD 1.6 billion, net profit after tax USD 355 million and underlying profit USD 397 million. Santos described the period as its best personal safety performance on record, with no lost-time injuries across the half.
Ownership and portfolio moves
Santos remains an independent listed company. A consortium led by XRG, the international investment arm of ADNOC, withdrew its USD 18.7 billion non-binding proposal in September 2025 after the parties failed to agree terms, and no replacement offer has been announced. The group has continued to reshape its asset base in 2026: the sale of the Mahalo asset completed, and GLNG acquired the Meridian coal seam gas project in Queensland. Santos reports quarterly activity statements, holds its annual general meeting in Australia and publishes a climate transition plan and annual sustainability reporting.