Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Cormann for his comments. But the point remains that if there is revenue being derived from our natural resources then as much profit as is practicable should be going to the people of Australia, not to the pockets of large oil companies.

Let’s put this in context. There are a number of other joint venture partners in this project. Of course there is Woodside, the most vocal in its opposition, with profits that I expect this year will be around US$2 billion with a market capitalisation of US$33 billion. BHP Billiton’s market capitalisation is $135 billion and their profit for 2007 is in the region of US$15 billion. Royal Dutch Shell has $256 billion in market capitalisation and $31 billion in profits. Chevron has $175 billion in market capitalisation, with $18 billion in profits. BP has $168 billion in market capitalisation and $21 billion in profits. There is also the Japan Australia LNG consortium and China National Offshore Oil Corporation. China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s 2007 figures were in the vicinity of $13 billion in profits. It is interesting to note that Woodside seems to be the only one—