Woodside sold the project to an insubstantial company to avoid a few hundred million in decommissioning costs: now it and its competitors will pay the price.
WA Premier Mark McGowan warned Alcoa to lift its game or face curtailed mining, but his successor Roger Cook slashed water supply protections after a possibly empty threat from the US miner.
Kevin Gallagher has been Santos' chief executive since 2016. Before that, he led the engineering company Clough, having held senior positions at Woodside.
Santos is battling blocked heat exchangers, failed subsea valves, and faulty safety doors 285km north of Darwin so it can reap the reward of high gas prices in Asia.
Santos has "announced" the launch of design work for its Dorado oil project off WA without awarding any engineering contracts. The $2.6 billion project could later supply gas to the mainland.
