Disruptions to Middle East LNG supplies have sent prices soaring across the globe, prompting calls from unions, the Greens and crossbenchers for a 25 per cent windfall tax on exports.
Left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute estimated it would boost the federal budget by $17 billion each year.
Resources Minister Madeleine King said gas companies had invested huge sums of money in LNG projects when asked if she wanted changes to the gas export tax regime.
"To have created this gas industry, which provides most of the domestic gas in this country, those companies had to invest tens of billions of dollars," she told ABC Radio on Monday.
"This is something we depend on private capital to build out these industries, which is different to what other countries are referred to in this debate sometimes."
It was a point made by the gas lobby as it released a report on Monday that claimed the windfall tax proposal would make Australia "uninvestible" for new gas projects.
Analysis done by consultancy group Wood Mackenzie for Australian Energy Producers claims an additional 25 per cent tax would slash project value by up to 94 per cent, putting $70 billion of government revenue at risk.
The report pushes back on the argument - made by proponents of the gas tax - that countries like Norway reap a much higher share of gas profits than Australia while still being an attractive destination for investment.
Because the Norwegian government directly invests in gas projects, it shares in the downside risks for private investors while sharing in the revenue on the upside, the report said.
But Australians could still be earning a bigger share of gas export revenues without harming investment, argues the Superpower Institute, a lobby group founded by economists Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims.
The institute called for a "fair share levy" on gas exports, which would raise around $13 billion per year extra in revenue.
But the model is a bit of a misnomer, Mr Sims said.
Rather than imposing a new tax, the government would provide a 40 per cent share in new gas projects and take 40 per cent of the return, similar to the Norwegian model.
"If all you do is put another imposition on them, then that ... could well affect investment because you're pushing up costs and not changing revenues," Mr Sims told AAP.
"We're not increasing the impositions on the project. What we are doing is contributing to the investment cost and it cannot affect the incentive to invest."
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