Queensland opposition says tax risks LNG industryPUBLISHED: 07 May 2010 12:27:04 | UPDATED: 07 May 2010 12:27:04PRINT EDITION: 07 May 2010
The Queensland opposition says the Rudd government’s new resources tax puts the state’s fledgling coal seam gas industry in jeopardy.
The federal government plans to impose a 40 per cent tax on mining firms’ so-called “super” profits.
Oil and gas producer Santos has told shareholders that the company is considering the tax’s impact on its flagship liquefied natural gas project at Gladstone.
The $7.7 billion Gladstone LNG joint venture with Malaysia’s Petronas is a two-train LNG project that will take coal seam gas from eastern Queensland, liquefy it at a plant at Gladstone and export it to Asian customers.
But the company said it would “use the next few months to carefully consider the government’s tax changes announced on the weekend, including seeking clarity from the government regarding important details not included in Sunday’s announcement”.
Queensland opposition mines spokesman Jeff Seeney said on Friday Santos’s position threw into doubt the future of the industry.
“Now all the anticipated development in central Queensland is in doubt - all the jobs and all the export income that will come from the huge industrial development of this new export industry have now been delayed at best, and at worst, lost all together,” Mr Seeney said.
“They are all re-examining their financial models to determine how their projects can proceed under the burden of a new super tax.”
He said the Queensland government had failed to understand the impact of the new tax.
“They have abandoned the Queensland industry and the Queensland economy to the ravages of the Rudd super tax,” he said.