Woodside says Singapore hub not for tax

ENERGY giant Woodside Petroleum says its Singapore office was set up for marketing, not tax minimisation.

“THE office in Singapore for us is actually not set up at all for tax optimisation, it’s set up because that’s where marketing is done,” chief executive Peter Coleman told Woodside’s annual general meeting.

“The Singapore office had been established as a pure trading business.

“We still market the cargoes out of Australia using Australian marketing, meaning there is no transfer pricing in Woodside’s business model at this point in time and we don’t expect there to be.”

Mr Coleman’s comments come as a Senate inquiry investigates allegations mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto have been using transfer pricing on commodities over the last decade to shift profits to low tax havens, costing Australia billions in revenue.

Mr Coleman noted some companies had structured their affairs differently to Woodside.

“Simply put, it means we pay our taxes in Australia,” he said.

“The point of sale is in Australia.”

Woodside says it has not been asked to appear before any inquiries.