Mr Kevin Gallagher joined Santos as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on 1 February 2016, bringing more than 25 years’ international experience in the oil and gas industry.
Mr Gallagher led the transformation of the company into a reliable, high-performing business with a focus on generating free cash flow. He implemented a disciplined low- cost operating model and strengthened the company’s balance sheet, creating a strong cash-generative business that has delivered impressive results over the last eight years.<br /><br />

Early in his tenure, Mr Gallagher set a clear strategy for the company to transform, build and grow around existing assets and infrastructure. The strategy has since evolved to focus on backfilling and sustaining existing infrastructure and assets, decarbonising operations and developing low carbon fuels as market demand evolves.
Under Mr Gallagher’s leadership, Santos has become a top-20 ASX-listed company and a top-20 global independent oil and gas company with three successful, value- accretive mergers and acquisitions with companies and assets adjacent to Santos’ existing business.<br /><br />

This upgraded the company’s portfolio of assets and delivered substantial synergies.
Under Mr Gallagher’s leadership, Santos is well-advanced with the Barossa Gas Project which will backfill Darwin LNG and the Pikka Project on Alaska’s North Slope. These projects will sustain stable production for the company out to 2035 and beyond.<br /><br />
 
Mr Gallagher has been a champion of carbon capture and storage and has positioned Santos as a leader in this field with the company making what Santos understands was the world’s first booking of carbon storage reserves and investing in one of the world’s largest CCS projects at Moomba in South Australia’s Cooper Basin.
Moomba CCS is currently in the commissioning phase, with startup imminent.
Forbes Australia recently listed Santos in the Top 10 corporate givers in the nation, reflecting Mr Gallagher’s commitment to building a better future and leaving a positive legacy in the communities where we operate, particularly Indigenous communities.<br /><br />

Mr Gallagher is committed to ensuring Santos remains resilient, value accretive and at the leading edge of the global energy evolution. He has positioned Santos to leverage the critical role natural gas will play in delivering energy security to the Asian region through the energy transition to net-zero emissions.
Commencing his career in the oil and gas industry as a drilling engineer in Scotland with Mobil in the North Sea, Mr Gallagher migrated to Australia to join Woodside in 1998. He was Chief Executive Officer at Clough Limited from 2011 until his appointment at Santos.<br /><br />
