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Summary

Santos today commemorates the 40th anniversary of the first delivery of natural gas from its Moomba processing plant in the Cooper Basin, in the remote northeast of South Australia.

Santos today commemorates the 40th anniversary of the first delivery of natural gas from its Moomba processing plant in the Cooper Basin, in the remote northeast of South Australia.

The arrival of the first molecules of gas in Adelaide via the 750km pipeline from Moomba on 10 November 1969 was a significant milestone in building a natural gas distribution network that now services all eastern Australian states and territories.

Santos Chief Executive Officer David Knox said four decades of gas supplies from Moomba was a reminder of the ability of natural gas to provide reliable, affordable and clean energy for Australia.

“The commencement of gas supplies from Moomba to Adelaide represented the culmination of a 15-year search for oil and gas and the extraordinary achievement of building what remains one of Australia’s largest onshore resources projects in six years in the mid-1960s,” Mr Knox said.

“It meant South Australia was an early convert to using natural gas rather than coal for power generation – something which now means the state has the cleanest electricity supply of all Australian mainland states.”

South Australia sources around 56% of its electricity from natural gas. Modern gas-fired power stations emit approximately 40% of the CO2 produced by existing black coal power stations and about 30% of existing brown coal power stations.

“The delivery of gas from Moomba was also the first step in building our Eastern Australia gas business – a base business which has underpinned the growth of Santos for decades,” Mr Knox said.

Santos Vice President Eastern Australia Mark Macfarlane said Santos and its joint venture partners have invested over $9 billion into the Cooper Basin over the past 40 years and delivered 5.8 trillion cubic feet of gas to customers throughout South Australia and the eastern states.

“40 years of gas deliveries from Moomba is a reminder of Santos’ track record and highlights our ability to keep on delivering – both in our base business and in our newer growth projects,” Mr Macfarlane said.