Its name was an acronym for South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search.
Santos made its first significant discovery of natural gas in the Cooper Basin with the Gidgealpa 2 well in 1963. The Moomba 1 discovery in 1966 confirmed this region as a major petroleum province.
As a result of these discoveries, Santos had a commercially viable quantity of gas and entered into gas sales agreements with the South Australian Gas Company, the Electricity Trust of South Australia and the Australian Gas Light Company. Gas supplies commenced in 1969.