Twelve months ago, with Santos caught in the crosshairs of a $13.5 billion bid from Harbour Energy, chief executive Kevin Gallagher's cool reception of an offer he described as a "compliment" to a business whose recovery was only getting going didn't convince everybody.

One analyst described the circa $6.50 a share price - which was already more than 40 per cent up on an original approach seven months earlier - as "amazing". Many considered foreign investment approval the biggest obstacle, rather than value.