Coates, to his credit, is one of the few company chairs to basically admit his board got it wrong, confiding in the last annual report that he: “didn’t fully anticipate the timing and the depth of the down cycle for the oil price.”
This, of course, is something of an understatement and, as he noted, the company wasn’t exactly Robinson Crusoe on that front.
Still, after $8.3 billion in writedowns over the past two years and having installed a new chief executive in Kevin Gallagher back in February, now is a good time for Coates to say farewell.
He first joined the board in 2008, then became chair in 2009 before handing the baton on to Ken Borda in 2013.
Borda, of course, didn’t last long, reportedly because he couldn’t get board support for an equity raising which in retrospect was probably needed.
Coates became executive chair in 2015.
The company (STO) subsequently raised $2.5bn in equity but is now left in the difficult position of owning a big LNG plant at the overpopulated Gladstone, with the least gas of all three consortia at the port.
This is why some speculate it will put the second train on hold for a while.
Coates, to his credit, stepped in at a time of crisis, moved quickly to clear house and say farewell to former boss David Knox.
Suffice it to say, now is a good time to bid farewell as the company gets ready for its next stage.
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After eight years on the Santos board, including six as chair, Peter Coates is widely tipped to be planning to not stand for re-election at the company’s next annual meeting in May, opening the door for a change in the guard at the top of the beleaguered company.