In short:
The federal government has set up a fight with one of Australia's largest oil and gas companies, Santos, over their gas reservation policy.
A draft framework released on Monday outlines a plan for a policy that would force exporters to supply the domestic market with 20 per cent of their exports each year.
What's next?
The gas lobby is warning the policy would displace domestic producers, undermine investment and damage Australia's reputation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-26/government-sets-up-fight-with-santos-over-gas-reservation-plan/106721410?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
20 Comments
“Damaging our reputation” sounds like something an abuser says to the abused.
Fuck the gas lobby..
Pay the appropriate taxes Santos, or bugger off.
Santos cries because it’s less profitable to sell our own gas locally than shipping it out for free… fuck Santos they don’t even pay tax here
>Chief executive of lobby group Australian Energy Producers (AEP) Samantha McCulloch warned the draft would “undermine” investment in new gas, “displace” domestic-focused producers and “damage” Australia’s standing as a reliable partner of gas in the international market.
Whats is the point of new gas, if we don’t get an benefits from it?
Might as well keep it back in the dirt.
Oh no, our reputation of being easy to exploit?
Now I hope the government also do some reservation for construction materials next. Apparently we could have a housing crisis soon that will require drastic measures like reservation too.
It’s terrible how the Keating Liberal government’s globalisation reforms and other reforms led to Australians paying global prices for local goods, including gas.
Step 1. Secure local supply so we don’t need to buy it off Singapore and Japan.
Step 2. Tax the exports because we don’t have a trade relationship with Japan and Singapore to damage.
Madeleine King is looking for a post political Directors position with Shell, BP or Chevron,
She doesn’t care about Santos.
” gas lobby is warning ”
Must have pulled the 2006 paperwork from the filing cabinet .Rinse , repeat same ole lines .🥱
https://www.afr.com/markets/commodities/industry-slams-revised-wa-plan-for-local-gas-quota-20061007-jf3jo
Actually , the same identical comments are thrown up by any industry ,as soon as it is suggested they pay more ( some ) tax .
I’ll take the risk
Nationalise Santos with no compensation for shareholders.
wild that we have to fight our own gas companies to use our own gas. just once I’d like to live in a country where the resources under our feet actually benefit the people standing on them.
Fuck the gas lobby. All they’re concerned about is how this will effect their massive profits and ability to tax dodge.
why only the second why not first, third, andd everyone else who have not been paying taxes at all
Australia first, baby!
I wonder what the logic is behind the 20% figure. I think having a gas reservation for the domestic market, to protect from supply shocks in particular, makes massive sense. But I’m not quite following the logic of having the 20% figure.
If the Australian domestic demand is 20, why limit exports to 100? Why not have a requirement to supply 20 to the domestic market and allow exporting of 200+?
I can see a particularly perverse incentive structure with a fixed % value. Gas exporter is offered a contract for lots of money, but that contract would push them above the 20% threshold. But there is no more demand in the domestic market, so what does the company do? Do they A) not fulfill the export contract, or B) do they induce wasteful demand in the domestic market so they can export.
On the surface this would look good, as it means domestic gas would be artificially cheaper, but this has significant negative impacts, not least of which would be more greenhouse gas emissions than needed.
Have a look at Turkmenistan back prior to 2014. There used to be a saying along the lines of “A Turkman never turns off their stove, because otherwise they would have to pay for matches”
Tha gas industry is one of the reasons Australia is becoming a banana republic. Fuck them. If they want a good deal they need to give the country a good deal.
They don’t need to pay tax. All they need to do is supply at cost the gas for electricity generation. At cost. This will lower the cost of base load generation.
I never understood the logic. Companies say they’ll get scared off. Okay. You can’t take the oil and gas reserves with you, so you’ll close up shop and another company will come in and take easy profits because the original company wanted bigger profits.
Who cares if they leave.
Should nationalize these companies anyways.
If they pull this off, they can have my ultra right, bigoted, -ismed and -phobic vote!
What’s the fight? Do it or fuck off. Someone else will be happy to come in and make money while complying with regulation.