Santos rejects suggestion chief executive Kevin Gallagher could take Chris Ellison’s job at Mineral Resources
Santos has launched an extraordinary angry rebuttal of a throwaway suggestion that chief executive Kevin Gallagher could fill Chris Ellison’s shoes at scandal-ridden Mineral Resources.
In a highly unusual move, Santos has rubbished the idea as “completely fabricated, without foundation and false”, despite Mr Gallagher briefly standing for the MinRes board two years ago.
MST Marquee energy analyst Saul Kavonic — an often left-field observer who takes a bigger picture view of his coverage portfolio than most of his peers — on Tuesday speculated that MinRes’ corporate governance crisis could see Santos’ long-running chief executive considered as a replacement for Mr Ellison, who will be ushered out of the miner in the next 12 to 18 months.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“We wonder if (the crisis) could present an opportunity for (Mr Gallagher) to step into the leadership role there, rekindling Gallagher’s ambition to join MinRes in early 2022,” Mr Kavonic wrote.
On that occasion, Mr Gallagher agreed to take up a non-executive directorship at Mineral Resources, only to be forced into an embarrassing retreat just a month later in March 2022 after a backlash from Santos shareholders.
Mr Kavonic, who is currently in Perth talking to energy companies and visiting sites, recalled that at the time, the board seat for Mr Gallagher had been seen “as a possible stepping stone for a life after Santos”.
The 59-year-old is Australia’s longest-serving energy company boss after nearly nine years at the helm of the Adelaide-based Santos.
However, Mr Kavonic noted that despite Santos succession planning in the past two years, “many in the market see Gallagher’s tenure lasting a few more years”.
That qualification wasn’t enough to appease Mr Gallagher’s apparently over-sensitive minders at Santos.
Most companies wouldn’t even have bothered responding to Mr Kavonic’s hypothetical scenario
Instead, a Santos spokesperson responded: “Suggestions made today that Kevin Gallagher could join MinRes are completely fabricated, without foundation and false.”
More to come
