With great sadness we announce the passing of a well known and much loved character of the Australian oil industry. Richard Beare, dearly loved husband of Narelle and loving father to Alexander, Oliver, Eliza and Victoria, passed away suddenly on the 24 July 2026 at the age of 61.
Richard had an exciting career in the oil & gas industry with a focus on Exploration within Australia. He graduated from Flinders Uni in 1986 with a BSc (Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences) with Honours. His first oil industry job was in 1989 with Santos and he had immediate success as a geophysicist with several wells in the Eromanga Basin. His interest in new technology, in this case the transition from seismic interpretation on paper to digital workstations, led to him moving to Landmark in 1993, taking Richard & Narelle to Melbourne, then Norway followed by Canada, with his career blossoming almost as quickly as his family.
After 5 years living overseas, family ties pulled them back to Adelaide and Santos. He started working in the Onshore Asset Team, then in 2004 he became a key player in the Bayu-Undan (Timor Sea) Redetermination team. Responsible for maximising Santos equity in the giant gas field, the work produced a successful outcome for Santos and he was justifiably very proud of it. He worked his way up to a role as Team Leader for North & Western Australian Exploration in 2011, leading the team through the drilling of two of the largest discoveries in Santos’ history, Crown in 2012 & Lasseter in 2014, both recognised as the most significant discoveries in Australia in those years.
Richard completed his circumnavigation of Australian Exploration by moving to Team Leader roles in Eastern Australia, and then the Southern Margin. He finished his career as the Team Leader Seismic Interpretation. His genuine interest in helping people showed through at this time when he also took on a side role as a Santos mental health support person.
Richard was well respected and held in high regard by his peers and managers alike, having an impressive technical skill set. He was very quick to understand and apply new software, and was often called upon for special projects. His resourcefulness, creativity, positive attitude and tenacity made him the person to go to for inspiration and solutions.
In addition to Richard’s deep technical knowledge and skill, his leadership style was one that created a cohesive, motivated team spirit, that recognised and celebrated contributors, and people loved working with him.
Richard was an enthusiastic participant in any social event, such as cricket, football, board games, field trips, cycling, volunteering for the TDU and charity events. He had a great sense of humour and was well known for playing the occasional practical joke.
Richard’s working life covered 40 years in the industry. He was a big guy with a big heart, and his positive spirit meant he had a wide network of friendships throughout the industry and far beyond, and he will be sorely missed. Vale Richard.
Special thanks to Chris Luxton for writing this piece, and for Narelle Beare for approving.
