The turnaround is nothing short of stunning. Less than two years ago, Australian oil and gas giants Woodside Petroleum and Santos looked like pariahs. The oil price had crashed amid a global pandemic panic, comically touching minus $US40 a barrel in April 2020 as the world went into lockdown.

Dire predictions of a permanent change in oil demand reverberated across the global economy. The investors who hadn’t deserted the sector because of falling commodity prices fled on environmental grounds, fearing petroleum producers were being left behind by the global decarbonisation push.