Chengdu National Development and Reform Commission

The national development and Reform Commission in Chengdu secretly discussed the reform of natural gas prices

the national development and Reform Commission in Chengdu discussed the pricing mechanism of refined oil, which triggered a nationwide media frenzy last year, and finally set the tone for China's oil reform. After half a year, the national development and Reform Commission went to Chengdu to hold a seminar again. This time, the theme pointed to the price of natural gas. In the view of the industry, this move may become the vane and prelude of this year's natural gas price reform

key points of price reform

solve the problem of huge price gap caused by different gas sources

recently, it was exclusively learned from an industry participant that the national development and Reform Commission convened the local development and reform commissions, price bureaus, PetroChina, Sinopec, gas group, Gas Association and other relevant units of all provinces to gather in Chengdu from the 25th to the 30th of last month to hold a "natural gas price reform seminar"

according to this industry source, the content of this seminar involves the analysis of the natural gas market situation, the introduction of foreign natural gas pricing experience, the discussion of domestic gas price reform ideas, the analysis of gas enterprise accidents, etc. An expert panel and some other industry participants who were previously commissioned by the national development and Reform Commission to conduct research on natural gas price reform discussed the latest ideas of natural gas price reform at this meeting

the person told that an important reform idea revealed at the meeting was the separation of pipe and gas source. According to this idea, the state should gradually marketize the upstream and terminal fields, and only implement monopoly management on the tube

some experts also proposed at the meeting that in the future, natural gas prices should fully consider the factors of different gas sources, and adjust the pricing problems caused by the current large price gap between different gas sources through policies

with the diversification of domestic natural gas sources, a huge price gap has been formed between different gas sources. For example, the gas price of West to East Gas Transmission and offshore gas fields is relatively cheap, while the cost of LNG purchased from abroad is higher, and the price difference between the two is as high as twice. The price inconsistency of these three kinds of gas sources after arriving at the pipe will cause pricing problems: selling high is not competitive, and some gas sources will lose money if the price is low

"if the separation of pipe and gas source is adopted, in the future, even if the price of upstream gas source is different, the central and local governments can still adjust the pipe purchase price through tax and other means. For example, the value-added tax can be reduced or even not levied on imported LNG. In this way, the government can not only ensure the enthusiasm of enterprises to develop and sell natural gas, but also fully control the operation of this strategic resource." The person said. Another government official who also attended the meeting revealed to that the meeting also focused on the current situation of pipeline transmission and distribution fees. As an important part of the terminal price of natural gas, once the transmission and distribution fee price is adjusted, it will directly affect the downstream gas price. "At present, the price of transmission and distribution fees is bound to rise in the future, but how and when it will rise have not been decided."

"for China's natural gas price reform, the biggest constraint at present is a single pipe and a single gas source. If the gas source can be liberalized, of course, market competition can be introduced, but the premise is that the pipe and gas source must be separated." Dongxiucheng, deputy dean of the school of Business Administration of China University of petroleum, said in an interview

according to him, many developed countries adopt the practice of setting up a management company to operate natural gas transmission independently. China can also learn from this practice. At the same time, it should also strengthen the construction of management and change the underdeveloped short legs of management

price change steps

commercialization and then marketization will form a part of the rocket nozzle extruded carbon fiber composite ink

it is worth noting that the expert jury also submitted a report on the research on the price of natural gas distribution in China pipeline to the General Assembly this time, which includes the current situation of pipeline gas distribution, the formation basis of gas distribution price, gas distribution price management system, price composition, etc. The report describes the price formation mechanism of upstream wellhead price, midstream pipeline price and gate station price respectively

in addition, an important message was also revealed at this seminar: in the future, the direction of domestic natural gas price reform is to commercialize first and then market, and the ultimate goal is to be in line with the price of crude oil. "The so-called commercialization is to treat natural gas as a commodity, which is an important means to solve problems such as the upside down of natural gas prices at home and abroad." The industry said

"natural gas is a commodity, but it has been constrained by a high degree of planning. The formulation of commercialization is actually to avoid the concept of marketization. Because the price of natural gas is basically impossible to achieve marketization in one step, the solution: send the problematic driver back to the company for maintenance, so we adopt a two-part strategy. But there is a long process to realize real commercialization." Dong Xiu said in pairs

according to a summary of the meeting, the main contents of the commercialization reform of gas prices include: "rationalize the price charges, so that the bridge returns to the bridge and the road returns to the road; improve the price mechanism, ensure the rationality of all kinds of price differences; implement the two-part price" and so on. Among them, the two-part price is divided into "capacity fee" and "measurement fee". The so-called "capacity fee" is the compensation of fixed capital, including fixed system compensation, initial construction costs, etc; The "measurement fee" includes pipeline maintenance costs, personnel salaries, profits, etc. This will enable users to bear the cost of pipeline transportation of natural gas fairly. Under the condition that the total cost of pipeline transportation remains unchanged, users with balanced gas consumption can pay less pipeline transportation costs than users with unbalanced gas consumption

"of course, since the domestic natural gas market is still highly monopolized on the whole, there are many difficulties in the formulation and implementation of natural gas price reform. But in contrast, it may be more difficult to straighten out the pricing mechanism of refined oil products." The above industry insiders told me

the relevant person in charge of the national development and Reform Commission said at that time that the current natural gas price formation mechanism was imperfect and the price ratio of natural gas to other energy sources was unreasonable. The purpose of reforming the natural gas ex factory price forming machine and then turning the handwheel system on the beam is to rationalize the natural gas price, promote gas conservation, optimize the gas consumption structure, promote the sustainable and healthy development of the natural gas industry, and ensure the supply of domestic natural gas market

however, the above-mentioned reform goals have not been promoted, resulting in the increasingly serious inversion between domestic natural gas prices and the international market, and it is difficult for the country to promote the realization of energy-saving goals

in the second half of last year, the three domestic oil giants wrote to the national development and Reform Commission calling for a rise in the price of natural gas. Since then, relevant research groups of the national development and Reform Commission have rushed to all parts of the country to conduct research on natural gas prices, and all provinces have held hearings on natural gas price adjustment plans

in October last year, Ma Kai, director of the national development and Reform Commission, said at the resource price reform seminar that the domestic natural gas price is obviously low. It is necessary to gradually increase the natural gas price, improve the natural gas price formation mechanism, straighten out the relationship between the natural gas price and the price of alternative energy, and establish a mechanism linked to the price of alternative energy. In April this year, Premier Wen Jiabao said at the national video conference on energy conservation and emission reduction that China will promote the price reform plan of natural gas, water, heat and other resource products in due course

on April 1, Beijing announced that civil natural gas rose by 0.15 yuan per cubic meter, an increase of nearly 7.9%, and said that it would establish a linkage mechanism between upstream and downstream prices of natural gas in the future

in this regard, Li Youjia, a consultant of the China Urban Gas Association, told that the cost of natural gas price increases should not be borne by civilian users. From the experience of developed countries, there is a warning line for the price rise of civil natural gas. Once this warning line is broken, users will replace natural gas with electricity, which will not pay off for the natural gas industry at that time