I disagree m0ngy. The statement “It is to these governments that...

I disagree m0ngy.

The statement “It is to these governments that the bulk of the natural wealth of the Northern Territory gas industry will accrue if the pipeline should go ahead” is misleading, in that only the after-tax profits from the tariffs would be sent overseas, and these would be limited to only the NT gas using this particular pipeline. If the natural gas wealth of the NT is anywhere near recent forecasts, I imagine it would take a very long time for it all to be transported out of the NT via the NGP.

Of course let’s not go into the contradictory nature of the report, which also refutes this position by the following statements in bold (headlines from the executive summary):

The project would most likely be a loss making enterprise (hence no profits would leave the country)

The project is informed by official energy-market forecasts that are too high. (hence it would never be able to have sufficient capacity to pay off it’s capital cost)

The project is being built into a global glut in LNG. (hence it’s tariffs would not make gas sales marketable, again meaning they would never be able to have sufficient capacity to pay off the capital cost)

Profits on tariffs after the capital cost has been repaid (and ongoing maintenance, operations and taxes) will unfortunately go overseas. But considering Jemena won a bidding process outright against other Australian and international competitors, and they have accepted all the commercial risks which this report seems to love to highlight, why shouldn’t they receive profits, similar to any other multinational resource or services company would?