A towering figure in the Queensland natural gas industry has quit his latest gig

A TOWERING figure in the Queensland natural gas industry has abruptly quit his latest gig and it’s not entirely clear why.

Richard Cottee

GAS GIANT QUITS

A towering figure in the Queensland natural gas industry has abruptly quit his latest gig and it’s not entirely clear why.

Richard Cottee bailed out of Central Petroleum this week after six years of serving as MD of the loss-making outfit.

Adding to the intrigue was the fact that only two months ago Cottee had agreed to stay on for another two years at the helm of the Brisbane-based firm as it shook up the management team.

His departure comes at a critical time for Central as it aims to ramp up gas production ahead of the launch later this year of an $800 million pipeline connecting the Northern Territory to the eastern states.

Dramas have also flared on his watch, including last year’s failed attempt at a board spill by rebel shareholders and a blocked $87 million takeover attempt by Macquarie Group.

Cottee has been an active player in the resources games for nearly 40 years and made a fortune in 2008 when he sold Queensland Gas Company to the BG Group for $5.7 billion.

But Central has been a harder slog as it pivots from exploration to production.

Forced to raise $25.5 million in the December half, the company suffered $3.9 million in red ink over the period. That came after losses of more than $20 million in each of the 2016 and 2017 financial years.

Cottee, who we hear jets off to England next week, did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

Stepping in to the void as acting CEO is Leon Devaney, who has served as chief financial officer since 2012.

Devaney is a long-time associate of Cottee and toiled with him at QGC back when it was a struggling minnow with a market cap of just $30 million.

ABSOLUTE GENIUS

Martin Kriewaldt, who stepped up as chairman of Central in May, hailed Cottee yesterday as “an absolute genius of the industry after once being derided as a crackpot’’.

But he stressed that Cottee was always going to be leaving at some stage and the board simply decided now was the right time since the company’s strategy and drilling efforts are “humming along’’.

Making the break was also pretty painless. In an odd twist, it turns out that Cottee’s two-year contract renewal announced to the market in early June had never actually been signed!

While the formal date of Cottee’s exit is January 31, he’s already left the building in what’s known as “gardening leave’’ to keep him out of the sector for six months.

Meanwhile, legendary industry figure Bob Bryan, who hired Cottee to run QGC back in 2002, told City Beat yesterday that his protégé will be missed at Central.

“He’s really creative and creativity is what a company like Central Petroleum wants and needs,’’ Bryan said.

“When I hired him we were struggling. It was his lateral thinking and creativity that saw us move on.’’

Bryan even likened QGC’s tough early days to the situation that Central now finds itself in.

COPPER STRUGGLE

Speaking of troubled resources players, the revolving door continues to spin at the top of cash-burning copper miner CuDeco.

CEO Gongyang Jiang and director Paul Keran have each jumped ship over the past few weeks at the Brisbane firm.

The company, which is still trying to source long-term finance, also remains in a trading halt after five months because its half-year financials are yet to be lodged.

And why is that? Chairman Peter Hutchison said yesterday CuDeco was still trying to convince external auditors “that the company is able to continue as a going concern’’.