SANTOS won’t move headquarters from hometown Adelaide but will move its offshore division to Perth, according to managing director Kevin Gallagher at his company’s investor day in Sydney this morning. 

Last week at the Resources Technology Showcase in Perth Western Australian premier Mark McGowan suggested "Santos could be Wantos" as he called for a series of companies including Santos and BHP to re-headquarter to the west's sunnier climes.   

He suggested Sydney's beaches are hard to get to, Melbourne's not worth visiting, Brisbane's too humid and "don't get me started on Adelaide".   

"Santos could become Wantos, you won't regret moving to WA you'll be right at the cutting edge," he said.  

"I think it's a long term prospect. A lot of their operations are here," he told a later press conference.  

McGowan suggested Santos could base "divisions of their operations (in Perth), I think it would be a wise move on their part and obviously I have mentioned that repeatedly to Mr Gallagher." 

"We're not planning on moving our headquarters to Perth, (but) we're centring our offshore business there," Gallagher said today in response to a question about whether Santos' Perth headquarters could tower over Woodside.  

Rather it will locate its onshore business in Queensland and midstream operations and headquarters would stay in South Australia, he said. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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