<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/01/north-west-shelf-gas-extension-australia-lng-woodside-project-little-rent-tax>
"Extending the licence for the North West Shelf gas project won’t assist
Australia’s energy transition, experts say, even as it allows Woodside and its
foreign partners to profit from the nation’s mineral wealth while delivering
“almost nothing” to the national purse.
Environmental and Indigenous groups were dismayed this week after the
environment minister, Murray Watt, granted conditional approval to extend the
Woodside Energy-operated NW Shelf gas project out to 2070.
The decision comes amid reports the Albanese government may consider creating
an east coast gas reserve to prevent predicted shortfalls in domestic gas
supplies over coming years.
Australia is the world’s third-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter
after the US and Qatar, exporting nearly $70bn worth of the fuel in 2023-24.
Australia’s proven gas reserves are more than 40 times the country’s annual
consumption, alongside a bounty of unconventional gas resources.
Despite the huge revenues generated by exporters such as Woodside, Chevron and
Santos, oil and gas companies contributed only $1.1bn in petroleum resource
rent tax (PRRT) in 2023-24, according to budget papers.
Woodside paid $175m in PRRT from the NW shelf project in 2022-23, according to
the Australian Taxation Office.
The 40% PRRT is levied on offshore oil and gas projects once they become
cashflow positive, which usually takes years or decades because of generous
rules that allow capital expenditure to be fully deductible upfront when
assessing the PRRT liability.
This last allowance has meant the hugely profitable east coast LNG producers
have yet to pay any PRRT, although a tweak to the deductibility rules in August
last year will force them to begin paying some tax."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
