WA’s Great Gas Giveaway

Gas companies made $56 billion in 2022-23 exporting liquified natural gas out of WA. They paid $0 in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). And most of the companies paid $0 in royalties.

How can WA be running short of gas? 90% of the gas produced in WA is either exported or used by the LNG industry itself to process gas.

The LNG export industry consumes:

• 32x more gas than WA’s electricity generators.
• 30x more gas than WA’s mining industry.
• 8x more gas than the rest of the WA economy and community combined.

Four things you need to know

1. Royalties – most of the gas industry in WA pays no royalties

The LNG industry is 83% foreign owned, so most profits go overseas. Royalties from the gas industry are not significant in WA. Unlike the mining industry, most of the gas industry in WA pays no royalties at all. WA drivers pay more in vehicle registration than the gas industry pays in royalties.

This is because most gas is extracted from Commonwealth waters and the Commonwealth Government chooses not to charge royalties. Australia Institute research shows that $111 billion worth of LNG was produced from royalty-free gas and exported out of WA over the last four years. This gas was effectively given to multinational companies for free.

2. Taxes – “Not a single liquified natural gas project has paid any PRRT”

The Commonwealth does charge Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) but loopholes relating to deductions and transfer pricing mean that gas exporters do not pay PRRT. But don’t just take our word for it, according to Federal Treasury, “To date, not a single LNG project has paid any PRRT and many are not expected to pay significant amounts of PRRT until the 2030s.” Teachers pay more tax than the gas industry. In 2022, Australia’s beer excise raised more revenue than the combined company tax payments of Exxon, Woodside, Shell and Chevron.

3. Few jobs – 99% of West Australians don’t work in the gas industry

The gas industry involves lots of machinery and pipelines, but very few workers. While 220,000 Western Australians work in health care, and 143,000 work in mining, just 11,000 work in oil and gas extraction.

4. Significant polluter – The gas industry is resulting in millions of tonnes of emissions annually

While the gas industry provides few jobs and minimal revenue, it is a major polluter. WA gas exports result in 180 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, more than all of Australia’s coal-fired power stations combined.

Why would we allow new gas mega-projects?

WA and Australian Governments need to put the community and environment first:

• No new export gas projects
• Stop gas export corporations taking gas for free
• Make the industry pay a fair share