Don’t let gas giants scare you - they need to cough up

April 24, 2026 — 5:00am

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It’s no surprise that gas companies are splashing millions of dollars trying to convince us not to extract more tax from them. Few people will hand over money they believe they’ve rightfully earned without putting up a fight.

As Richard Denniss, director of the left-leaning think tank the Australia Institute, puts it, “gas companies are spending more on PR than on the PRRT”. By that, he means gas companies are paying very little petroleum resource rent tax: the main way we’ve tried to claw back some of the big profits – often called “superprofits” – that these companies make when they suck up resources that, really, belong to all of us.

The PRRT came into effect in 1988 as a 40 per cent tax on profits from Australian oil and gas projects.

That should mean that as gas prices have spiked recently (largely because of geopolitical conflicts which have squeezed the supply of gas in the world), the government should be raking in a lot of money. The problem is, it isn’t.

Of course, the gas industry – largely multinationals such as Shell, Woodside and Chevron – are adamant they’re shelling out a huge amount. Their peak body, Australian Energy Producers, says oil and gas companies contributed nearly $22 billion through various taxes and royalties to federal, state and territory governments in 2024-25.

That sounds big, but relatively speaking, it’s not. All the taxes gas companies pay – including company tax, royalties and PRRT – add up to about 30 per cent of their profits. Governments of other major fossil fuel exporting countries typically get between 75 per cent and 90 per cent.

The thing is, gas companies aren’t breaking any rules. They’re simply making the most of the rules – which have ended up with them paying much less than they should.

Part of this is because a lot of gas projects are technically in........

© Brisbane Times