![\"Shell's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7802bcfc1bcb0c29e624951715b83aede77c513e.jpg\")
Camera IconShell’s Prelude floating LNG platform is the world\u2019s biggest vessel. Credit: Shell Australia\/Shell Australia<\/p>\nHeavier taxes on oil and gas producers will scupper new projects, reduce Australia\u2019s relevance and expose it to \u201ca more dangerous world\u201d, business groups say, as modelling shows a $US11 billion jump in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax collections.<\/p>\n
A snap Federal parliamentary inquiry is considering whether the sector is paying enough for the natural resources and has already heard vociferous pushback from energy giants, particularly against a proposed 25 per cent levy on LNG exports.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the Greens-led committee holding a third day of hearings in Perth on Friday, lobby group Australian Energy Producers said the industry was already the nation\u2019s second-largest corporate taxpayer.<\/p>\n
They pointed to a new analysis by energy research firm Wood Mackenzie, which found the PRRT would collect $US24.5b between 2026 and 2030 at a Brent oil price of $US100\/bbl, where it currently hovers.<\/p>\n
That compares to $US13.5b at $US70\/bbl, where it had been before the Middle East conflict erupted on February 28.<\/p>\n
Camera IconShell’s Prelude floating LNG platform is the world\u2019s biggest vessel. Credit: Shell Australia\/Shell Australia<\/p>\n
The Australian Tax Office says PRRT liability is levied at 40 per cent of taxable profit, with collections highly correlated to the oil price.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssertions that the industry is not paying its fair share, or that the tax system does not respond to higher prices, are demonstrably wrong,\u201d AEP chief executive Samantha McCulloch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigher taxes will make Australia uninvestable for new oil and gas projects, putting our future energy security at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Aaron Morey will tell the committee that the PRRT was already a windfall tax, coming on top of company tax, and had been designed to ensure the community shared in profits once projects had recovered huge upfront costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is already a heavily taxed sector,\u201d he will say in his opening statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cProposals for further tax increases risk doing real damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cA blunt increase, particularly something like an export levy, would cut directly across future investment decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the margin, it will determine whether projects proceed in Australia or not at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we say this would be a folly of the highest order.<\/p>\n
![\"CME](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f999b118608a5a53f7da534f5f637fa315eeffc7.jpg\")
Camera IconCME CEO Aaron Morey Credit: Andrew Ritchie\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we step back from developing those resources, we reduce our relevance and expose ourselves in a more dangerous world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of the Federal Budget on May 12, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not rule a gas export tax in or out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I do say, though, is that some of the arguments that have been put forward have been a bit disingenuous \u2014 and people putting them forward know that,\u201d Mr Albanese told the ABC on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey, of course, will advocate for their interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy interests are the interests of the Australian people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tens of billions of dollars of upfront investment required before gas was extracted had to be acknowledged, Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n
Analysts Wood Mackenzie said Australian oil and gas projects currently had an effective tax rate of about 53.5 per cent to 57.5 per cent.<\/p>\n
A further windfall tax could make them \u201cuninvestable\u201d with Brent oil at $US70\/bbl, which was the long-term price that underpinned investment decisions, it said.<\/p>\n
Climate activists claimed Wood Mackenzie\u2019s modelling was flawed because it assumed all volumes were contracted, with none sold on the lucrative spot market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavier taxes on oil and gas producers will scupper new projects, reduce Australia\u2019s relevance and expose it to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,99,2572,44,19146],"class_list":{"0":"post-626186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-energy","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-oil-gas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}