	australia said to rely too much on oil taxes the government s over reliance on revenue from  oil is adversely affecting australia s economic performance australian petroleum exploration association apea chairman dennis benbow said over one third of australia s indirect tax income is derived from oil at a time of falling domestic output and weak  prices he told the apea annual conference here this dependence on oil generated revenue distorts the country s economic performance directly by acting as a disincentive to new exploration and indirectly by affecting trading competitiveness through high energy costs he said australia s medium term liquid fuel self sufficiency position is posing a major economic threat yet the government s response has been to load new tax burdens on the oil industry benbow said domestic oil output from existing fields is expected to fall to barrels per day bpd in fiscal from bpd in reflecting mainly the decline of the bass strait fields he said bass strait reserves are now two thirds depleted with the three largest fields pct depleted he said by bass strait output is expected to be just over half the level assuming a number of so far undeveloped fields are brought on stream and enhanced recovery from existing fields goes ahead benbow said government projections of output from as yet undiscovered fields range from to bpd he said australian liquid fuel demand is forecast to rise to bpd in from in implying a  oil gap of between and bpd in five years time he said at present world oil prices and the current value of the australian dollar annual oil imports in would cost between billion and billion dlrs benbow said despite intensive exploration in the early s the addition to reserves has been inadequate he said for example the mln barrels discovered in the five years represent about two years consumption he said he called on the government to review its tax policies to restore incentive to exploration reuter 
