The newly named interim chief is Peter Fredricson, a man with significant mid-stream experience now left in charge of an E&P company. Fredricson joined as CFO after 11 years at pipeliner APA Group.
The word ‘shitshow' was deployed more than once regarding a conference call that left many with more questions than answers.
Chief among them was why announce Wulff was resigning thanks to a deteriorating health condition and then go on to explain a ‘whistleblower' had complained of the executive's behaviour, with a board investigation finding it was not in line with the company code of conduct.
If he resigned for health issues why bring up behaviour, and if he was forced out over his behaviour, why bring his health into it?
That, and what Mubadala knew given it dropped its stake and pulled its board representative in June when the complaint was announced came up, as did questions as to whether there had been concerns regarding Wulff from last year.
"It was an utter debacle and a horrible conference call. That board needs to go, simple as that," one analyst speaking off record said.
Another said "there is no way concerns weren't raised with (Wulff's) behaviour last year" when CFO designate Ayten Saridas left after four months, seemingly for greener pastures though as the AFR notes, her time at Oil Search is not listed on her LinkedIn profile, nor is a new and better job.
"The whole call was just a joke," said one.
This leaves two of Australia's largest oil and gas companies with interim executives ahead of final investment decisions on large projects after Peter Coleman's unexpectedly early, poorly-managed departure from Woodside Petroleum.
This saw his former COO Meg O'Neill take over. Whether she will be appointed full time is yet to be announced, though a final investment decision on the A$16 billion Scarborough gas project is due this half of 2021.
Meanwhile Beach Energy's Matt Kay is facing a shareholder lawsuit and board scrutiny after the company's Western Flank oil assets depleted so quickly production and revenue and then the share price took a huge dive. Beach let go 25 staff over the incident.
Santos' chief Kevin Gallagher is one of the few truly secure after the board gave him one of the largest pairs of golden handcuffs seen in corporate Australia for several years as an inducement to stick with the company, rather than potentially take the top job at Woodside, where he once worked.
Though there have been private complaints about the Scotsman's micromanagement, the board has been pleased after he dragged Santos back into the black, restarted dividends, and outlined a simple and effective strategy.
Replacements for Wulff could include Otto Energy chair Mike Utsle who is on the board and knows Alaska from his days at BP, and Otto, which recently relinquished its stake in an Alaskan project after a disappointing duster in early 2019.
He is more likely to champion the Alaska Pika oil project, which was a favouite of Wulff's. However, he has no Papua New Guinea experience.
"Unfortunately, we see limited internal candidates within the company that have the right PNG and Alaska experience and qualifications for the role, other than potentially senior Alaska project team members whom we are not that familiar with, and therefore we see the company as having little choice but to immediately search outside to fill the role," RBC Capital Markets analyst Gordon Ramsay wrote in a note this afternoon,
"We think this outside selection process could take more than 6 months."
"Does a sudden lack of leadership now make Oil Search a more appealing takeover target? Oil Search's largest shareholder Mubadala sold down 4.5% (94m shares) on 23 June 2021 and it has potential to provide a suitor with a strong base position from its other 103m shares, provided Mubadala intends to fully exit Oil Search in line with a stated policy to cut its holdings in energy and other commodity-related assets."
Long time Oil Search chief Peter Botten is now chair of a de-merging AGL after the unexpected departure of CEO and MD Bret Redman.
