The Canadian-based Fraser Institute’s 12th annual survey has ranked Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania as among the world’s most unattractive destinations for oil and gas investment.
The Global Petroleum Survey 2018 said the “10 least attractive jurisdictions for investment, starting with the worst, are Venezuela, Yemen, Tasmania, Victoria, Libya, Iraq, Ecuador, New South Wales, Bolivia and Indonesia”.
As compared with 2017 results, the three new jurisdictions added to the group of the 10 least attractive to invest in were New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria.
The report presents the results of a survey of petroleum industry executives and managers regarding barriers to investment in oil and gas exploration and production facilities in various jurisdictions around the globe.
The barriers include high tax rates, costly regulatory obligations, uncertainty over environmental regulations, and the interpretation and administration of regulations governing the “upstream” petroleum industry.
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The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association’s (APPEA) chief executive Dr Malcolm Roberts said Australia’s south eastern states are keeping dubious company in their slide to the bottom as oil and gas investment destinations.
“At a time when Victoria and NSW increasingly rely on other states to meet their gas needs, their own climate for investment is going from bad to worse,” Dr Roberts said.
“Australia must continue to attract investment to develop our oil and gas resources and ensure reliable, affordable energy supplies, but it is alarming that the states that most need new supply are the most hostile to resource development.
“That absurd situation means homes and businesses in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania will continue to pay higher prices to transport gas from other states, threatening the viability of hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs that rely on natural gas supply.”
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South Australia again ranked as Australia’s most attractive destination for oil and gas investment, although its ranking and score has slipped, coming in 10th among 97 jurisdictions in 2017 but fell to 20th among 80 jurisdictions this year.
Western Australia (37th), Queensland (50th) and the Northern Territory (68th) all saw slight increases in their rankings.
Read the full report here.
