Indeed if Woodside had considered Gallagher its first choice to replace Coleman, it will now have to run its finger further down the list. And as one analyst, Credit Suisse’s Saul Kavonic, noted on Monday, Gallagher attracts a “Kevin premium” for Santos.

It makes for a change from the multitude of Australian companies that have seen shareholders vote against their remuneration packages over the past couple of years.

One of the more interesting elements of the Santos board’s decision to turbocharge Gallagher’s pay packet is that it is expected to result in zero backlash from major investors.

So it illustrates that shareholders have less of a philosophical objection to big pay packages and more of a value approach. In other words, shareholders hate rewarding poor performance but are happy to pay top dollar for executives if the share price is rising.

And Gallagher has certainly ticked that box for shareholders. The total shareholder return since he was appointed in 2016 has been just on 160 per cent, which is about twice that of the ASX 200 and more than four times that of the ASX Energy Index.

Under his reign he has embarked on an extreme makeover of the once-underperforming group, transformed it from a cash flow bleeder to a cash generator, and launched new projects.

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And while he has stabilised the company’s costs, the success of the turnaround has been about growth. In 2016 the average oil price was on a par with where it was in 2020, but Santos’ free cash flow has increased by three times.

Gallagher has also seen off a series of takeover proposals in 2018 from Harbour Energy - which at the time were pitched at a decent premium to the share price.

The new deal with Gallagher will make for a couple of interesting shareholder meetings on Thursday as both Santos and Woodside directors hold their annual meetings.