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Aussie NWS condensate excise may herald tax breaks

Oil & Gas Journal

The minister did not mention ExxonMobil Corp.-BHP Billiton's Scarborough field, but it is another proposal he puts in this 'struggling' category.

The government has announced plans for a wide-ranging review of resources taxation that will include a look at why the multibillion dollar gas ventures off northern and western Australia are finding it difficult to achieve development status. Gorgon, for instance, has been in the proposal stages for at least 15 years and Sunrise for 8 years.

The intimation is that Ferguson is keen to establish a policy framework for getting the next generation of LNG projects up and running and a policy encouraging development of projects such as gas-to-liquids.

Meanwhile the reaction from the NWS JV, led by Woodside Petroleum, is less than favorable

Woodside's Chief Executive Officer Don Voelte said the condensate exemption was not a loophole that was being closed, nor a free ride that was ending. He stressed that it was a negotiated fiscal arrangement that formed the basis of what has become Australia's largest resource development.