Institutional reform into the core of natural gas price reform

Recently, the price of natural gas price reforms has been extraordinary. At the end of last year, the trials for price reforms in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions were less than a year old. Some people are anxious to propose that they be promoted nationwide as soon as possible. Recently, there have been other ideas such as "encouraging upstream supply enterprises to provide direct supply to large users." All these are all directed against the price reform of natural gas, and there are few system and mechanism factors hidden behind the price, even if mentioning is more than a slogan.

The price adjustment is an inevitable trend. The author has no intention of opposing it. However, the author believes that the more pressing and more important than the price reform are the structural reforms in the energy industry such as oil and gas. If the gas production enterprises in the upstream are monopolistic, the gas transmission pipelines are also monopolized, while the downstream gas companies are competitive, but the gas sales prices are also subject to administrative controls. Whatever the case is in this unbalanced pattern, The price adjustment will not be able to make the industry sound development. The so-called price adjustment can only make consumers pay for how many reasonable components of the price increase. Such a reform is tantamount to bringing down the wood.

Two years ago, the author participated in the research project of the Department of Industrial Economics of the Development Research Center of the State Council “To Adhere to the Direction of Market-oriented Reform and Promote the Healthy Development of the City Gas Industry”. The Task Force believes that there has been a systemic collision between the monopoly system of the upstream sector and the multiple competition pattern of the city gas. Therefore, it is suggested that the country “should learn from the international experience of natural gas reform, break the monopoly pattern of integration in the middle and lower reaches of the industry, fully introduce competition in the competitive sectors, cultivate diversified market players, form a fair competitive environment, and increase industry efficiency in competition. To promote healthy development."

The reason why we proposed to break the monopoly is that we have discovered that in recent years, various reforms have appeared in the natural gas industry. Some large upstream enterprises are relying on the country’s resource advantages and long-term market dominance. They have extended their business areas to gas supply through the “resource-for-market” strategy, and even signed exclusive franchise agreements with some local governments. The development space of enterprises, especially non-state-owned gas companies, has been squeezed. This unfair competition has brought severe impact on the multiple competition pattern initially formed in the gas market. Two years have passed and this problem has not been solved fundamentally, and it has become increasingly fierce. The number of gas shortages and prices that have been forged in various places are related to this. Therefore, the author believes that rationalizing natural gas prices must be synchronized with institutional reforms.

Judging from the experience of reforms in various countries, it is precisely because of market-oriented reforms, the introduction of competition, and the realization of diversified competition among market players that can form a reasonable price system. The urban gas industry is different from the general competitive industry. The importance of its perfect system and mechanism is even more prominent. This is by no means solely a price reform can be achieved in one battle, and it cannot be covered or delayed by a price reform. reform.

The author believes that the overall reform of the natural gas industry should exert its strength in the following aspects: First, rationalize the relationship between the upstream and the downstream with the separation of pipeline transportation and competitive links. This is the biggest difficulty in reform. We must adhere to the principle of marketization, handle well the relationship between the competition sector and the natural monopoly sector in the industrial chain, establish an independent long-distance natural gas transmission pipeline system, and fairly liberalize natural gas access services to achieve natural gas pipeline transmission. Separate from the placement, it should be separated from the upstream development business in the long run. To grant monopolies to operators in the natural monopoly field of the pipeline network, to play a regulatory role through fair, transparent, and independent supervision of the government, to achieve networking and common network, to allow all kinds of gas sources to use the pipeline network in a fair manner, to ensure fair access and access to the Internet nearby . There are three systems that need to be safeguarded here: the third-party access policy for pipelines, market-based price formation mechanisms, and reasonable structural arrangements.

Second, improve industry supervision as soon as possible. In the field of non-natural monopolies, we should gradually deregulate and introduce competition so as to accelerate the formation of a competitive industry structure through a market-based mechanism that integrates with government regulations. At this stage, the focus of China's urban gas industry supervision should be on market access, natural monopolistic links, and market-dominant enterprises.

Third, improve legislation. The laws and regulations that apply to city gas in China are still not perfect. This situation is extremely incompatible with the rapid development of the natural gas market and has caused some confusion in some areas. For example, in the field of gas transmission and distribution in cities, there are upstream gas supply enterprises. The phenomenon of disorderly competition in the construction of distribution and supply pipelines has been repeated in the areas where the construction of urban gas pipeline networks has been planned. Therefore, we must step up the development of the "People's Republic of China City Gas Law."

Fourth, open up the upper reaches of natural gas in a timely manner, break the monopoly of state-owned enterprises, encourage the entry of private capital, and ultimately realize multi-source gas supply.

The energy reform must break the self-deception curse of “****”. It must be understood that monopoly is the greatest insecurity. As Wei Ganing, vice minister of the macroeconomic department of the Development Research Center of the State Council said, the biggest risk is not reform. Fortunately, the country is currently considering encouraging and guiding private investment in oil and gas pipeline networks and entering the upstream mining sector. It is hoped that this round of reforms and swords will truly stab at this most solid monopoly bastion.