David John Wissler Knox is an Australian

oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest ...

executive and former chief executive officer and managing director of

Santos Limited Santos Ltd. (South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search) is an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company, with its headquarters in Adelaide, South Australia. It owns liquefied natural gas (LNG), pipeline gas, and oil assets. ...

. Knox is originally from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland and is considered to be one of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

's most influential people.

Career

Knox was appointed to Santos CEO and MD positions in July 2008 after joining the company the previous year. Knox was previously managing director for BP Developments in Australasia from 2003 to 2007. He has worked for BP in the United Kingdom and Pakistan, and has held management and engineering positions at

ARCO ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

and

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

in the USA, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway. In August 2015 Knox announced that he would be leaving his leadership positions at Santos as soon as a successor had been appointed. As of 2016, Knox is the Chairman of the

Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, known as APPEA, is an Australian industry association representing companies which explore and produce oil and gas in Australia. APPEA is a non-profit organisation. The organisatio ...

(APPEA). and Deputy Chair of the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

Coal seam gas

On his appointment to MD in 2008 Knox announced that

coal seam gas Coalbed methane (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, coal seam gas (CSG), or coal-mine methane (CMM) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Au ...

production would become a key focus. This followed on from the work of his predecessor, John Ellice-Flint. As of September 2014, the

Gladstone LNG Gladstone LNG (GLNG) is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Queensland, Australia. It is a leading project in the conversion of coal seam gas ( coalbed methane) into LNG. The project was announced in July 2007. Its first LNG tanker load ...

project is approaching completion as the company's future gas gateway to export markets. Knox has remained optimistic about the project reaching completion in time to deliver first shipments in 2015. Knox has defended coal seam gas in response to protesters involved with the Lock the Gate Alliance and the Wilderness Society who have raised concerns about soil and water contamination from

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...

. He believes that coal seam gas provides a way forward to a

low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy (LCE) or decarbonised economy is an economy based on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mi ...

due to it burning at least 50% cleaner than coal. He has described coal seam gas opposition as misinformed, lacking in understanding and in some cases "deliberately pushed by people who will never support the resources industry."

Remuneration

In 2008, Knox's salary at Santos was $1.75 million, with potential to double the figure if certain performance targets were met. His salary became a controversial topic in 2012, after it was revealed that he was to earn $2.25 million in base salary, plus bonuses for achieving targets under short-term and long-term incentive plans up to a total of $6.75 million. His earnings were four times that of any other Santos executive. A consultant's report commissioned by the company claimed that Mr Knox was not paid as well as his peers in other companies, despite the managing director of

Woodside Petroleum Woodside Energy Group Ltd (formerly Woodside Petroleum Ltd) is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. Woodside is the operator of oil and gas production in Australia and also Australia's largest independent dedicated oil an ...

, a company more than twice the size of Santos, being paid the same as Knox in 2011. His total financial compensation for the year 2013 was $6,263,668. In the fiscal year 2014, his total calculated compensation was $6,782,702. In 2016, following his departure from Santos, ''The Advertiser'' reported that Knox had received more than AUD$30 million during his employment with the company.

Memberships

Knox holds a number of positions on a variety of boards and councils. These include: * Chair of the

Snowy Hydro Limited Snowy Hydro Limited is an electricity generation and retailing company in Australia that owns, manages, and maintains the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme which consists of nine hydro-electric power stations and sixteen large dams connecte ...

* Deputy Chair of the

* Director of the Migration Council Australia * Chairman of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens Foundation * Director of the board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium in South Australia * Council member of the

Business Council of Australia The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is an industry association that comprises the chief executives of more than 100 of Australia's biggest corporations. It was formed in 1983 by the merger of the Business Roundtable – a spin-off of the Comm ...

and the Royal Institution of Australia * Member of Trade and Investment Policy Advisory Council * Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mechanical Engineering * Elected in November 2012 as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

Former memberships

* Chair of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA)

Personal life

Knox, his wife, and their four children migrated to Australia in 2003. He, his wife, and one of their children became Australian citizens in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, David Australian corporate directors Living people Businesspeople from Edinburgh Naturalised citizens of Australia Scottish emigrants to Australia People from South Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Year of birth missing (living people)