Natural gas marketization

When the new pricing mechanism for natural gas was implemented in Guangdong and Guangxi, the industry had to face a reality: In Guangdong, which has the largest potential for natural gas marketization, currently the second-westest subsidiary of PetroChina still has difficulty reaching Shenzhen, the largest market in the region. The market leader here, CNOOC, did not extend its influence to the north of Guangzhou.

This means that in the natural gas market in Guangzhou, CNPC has absolute pricing discourse, and in Shenzhen, CNOOC still has a final say - the market-based pricing of the new pricing mechanism has not yet become a reality, even the basis of market-based pricing, market The pattern of competition has not yet formed.

“This situation should be temporary.” On March 7th, an insider of Guangdong Natural Gas Pipeline Company pointed out: “When the Guangdong Gas Pipeline Network achieves full coverage, the resources of the oil central enterprises will bid for the network and eventually realize consumer competition. Benefit from it."

However, is the evolution of events really true?

As we all know, due to the high price of imported gas overseas, CNOOC has been reluctant to participate in the new pricing mechanism for natural gas promulgated by the National Development and Reform Commission, and has started negotiating prices with downstream customers on its own.

The West Second Line stretches thousands of kilometers from west to east across 11 provinces in China. The demand for natural gas is huge everywhere. Once the new pricing mechanism leads to significant losses in the interests of PetroChina, it can sell more resources to those There are no provinces that have implemented market pricing.

From this point of view, the biggest challenge facing the new natural gas pricing mechanism lies in the lack of market resources. The basis of non-market pricing and the market competition have not yet been formed.

For this, all interviewees, including the National Energy Administration, PetroChina, CNOOC, and Guangdong Natural Gas Pipeline Co., Ltd., agreed. "In recent years, China has been in a state of tight energy. In the past few years, and even in the next few years, the supply and demand of natural gas will remain the same," said an expert from the Development Research Center of the State Council.

That being the case, the biggest problem in the future development of China's natural gas market is how to introduce as many resources as possible.

"After reviewing the pricing models of major natural gas markets in the world, the pricing of natural gas in mature markets such as North America and Europe has a close relationship with oil prices." Yang Jianhong, deputy director of the China National Petroleum Institute's pipelines, said: "Because of the abundance of local resources, the market accepts Differences in capability and so on, the ratio of natural gas pricing to oil price in North America and Europe are 10:1 and 6:1 respectively.

Because the Chinese market is huge and is still in the ranks of developing countries, Yang Jianhong believes that China's natural gas pricing should be maintained at 8:1 with oil prices. In this way, international resources will flow smoothly into China – natural gas producers will have enthusiasm, importers will have enthusiasm, distributors will also receive their own interests, and end consumers will also enjoy market competition due to abundant domestic market resources. The benefits come.