As a result, the federal council of APPEA is expected to launch a strong campaign to reduce the taxes it believes are harming the industry, with details of the campaign to be refined at a meeting in Perth next month.
APPEA executive director Barry Jones said Australia needed to find more oil, develop alternative gas-based fuels, encourage energy efficiency in the transport sector and ensure rapid development of all planned major gas projects such as Darwin LNG and the Timor Sea Sunrise project.
In addition, new gas projects need more government incentives, including revision of the petroleum rent resource tax. The nation also needs to encourage more speculative exploration in frontier areas and more exploration and development in deep water.
Mr Jones said Australia's crude oil and condensate production was projected to decline from a peak of 724,000 barrels a day in 2000 to between 209,000 barrels and 453,000 barrels a day over the next seven years- a 71 per cent drop.
"At today's prices these declines will mean an additional import bill of between $4.5 billion a year and $8.6 billion a year with likely outcome of $6.9 billion," Mr Jones said.
