The billboard, which draws on Australia Institute research into gas use in WA and its gas royalty system, is located at 263 Georges Terrace, Perth, and has been unveiled the week following the tumultuous annual general meeting of Woodside, one of Australia’s largest gas producers and greenhouse polluters.

Key findings:

• The LNG industry exports 35 times the amount of gas WA uses for electricity generation
• LNG producers themselves are the state’s biggest users of gas, using 2.5 times more than WA’s electricity generation to process gas for export (Figure 1)
• No royalties are paid on around three quarters of the gas exported from WA, including from Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone projects, Woodside’s Pluto LNG or Shell’s Prelude

“It is staggering our governments allow a handful of mostly foreign-owned corporations to export 90% of WA’s gas and give most of it to them royalty-free,” says Mark Ogge, Principal Adviser at The Australia Institute.

“Multinational gas companies are receiving a level of government generosity, in the form of royalty-free resources, that families doing it tough can only dream of. In giving away the community’s gas, governments are forgoing billions of dollars that could be providing cost-of-living relief.

“WA has an abundance of gas, it’s just most of it is exported. The so-called ‘gas shortage’ is a phony claim by multinational oil and gas companies to gouge WA consumers and justify massive new export projects.

“Woodside’s AGM last week exposed their culpability on climate, but Western Australians also deserve the truth about how much of our gas is exported and how little we get in return.”