Street Talk

E&P adds Santos to the M&A watch list

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May 3, 2023 – 2.05pm

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Santos has landed on resource investors’ radar with research house E&P Financial tipping the oil and gas giant as a takeover target.

Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher Ben Searcy

Energy analyst Adam Martin reckons international supermajors like BP, Total and Conocophillips could come calling, eyeing Santos’ LNG position. Shareholders, he says, would welcome them with open arms, increasingly frustrated with the company’s underperformance compared to its domestic and international energy peers.

Martin put performance issues down to flip-flopping on the Alaska project, production issues, uncertainty on Barossa approvals and questions about the CEO’s focus following his decision to join the Mineral Resources board (later abandoned after shareholder pressure).

“LNG is being increasingly viewed as a key global transition fuel over the medium to long-term,” he said.