Santos chief Kevin Gallagher says hydrocarbon fuels underpin freedom on firm’s 70th anniversary

Santos chief Kevin Gallagher says products from the state’s biggest firm are ‘critical to the energy trifecta’ in a speech marking its 70th anniversary.

Gas and other hydrocarbon fuels underpin freedoms such as living in a modern city like Adelaide or international travel, Santos chief Kevin Gallagher has declared as he marks the firm’s 70th anniversary.

In a speech to a gala event on Friday night, Mr Gallagher said the Adelaide-based oil and gas producer’s products were “critical to the energy trifecta of affordability, security and emissions reduction”.

“The world could not feed itself today, or anytime soon, without fertilisers made from natural gas,” he said.

“We do not yet have replacements for the materials that are fundamental to our modern civilisation – steel, cement and plastics.

“And the freedoms that many of us take for granted to: live in modern cities, such as Adelaide; pursue an education, a career; turn our minds to technology development; or have the leisure time to travel the world or enjoy the arts and sport, are because of hydrocarbon fuels.”

Santos chief executive officer and managing director Kevin Gallagher. Picture: supplied

Santos became a publicly listed company in 1954, when it was listed on the Adelaide Stock Exchange on October 1.

The firm had been incorporated that March, with its name an acronym of South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search. Renowned geologist Sir Douglas Mawson was on the first board.

The Moomba gas field, where Santos has a gas plant and a new carbon capture and storage facility, was discovered in 1966 – giving the firm confidence to invest in a pipeline to Adelaide.

Santos is now the state’s biggest company, with operations across Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and the United States.

In his speech, Mr Gallagher said little thought was given “to the human cost of a world without oil and gas”.

“The harsh reality is that roughly a billion people around the world still live in energy poverty today. So, it remains our responsibility, as an industry, to work towards giving them the opportunity for a better life,” he said.

“We cannot turn the taps off on oil and gas until low-carbon technologies are available to replace them economically.

“ … We have to reduce the emissions from hydrocarbons, particularly through carbon capture and storage technologies, which can do this at scale.”

Marc Pretty, a Cooper Basin senior production scheduler and 40 year Santos employee. Picture: Supplied,

Cooper Basin production scheduler Marc Pretty has worked at Santos for four decades, since following up a job advertisement in The Advertiser passed on by his father.

“I often wonder what John Bonython, the founding chairman of Santos, would think of the work we are doing today on projects like carbon capture and storage – it is pretty amazing stuff,” he said.