This article is from the WeChat public account: China Economic Weekly (ID: ChinaEconomicWeekly) , author: Xie Wei, head of FIG Origin: FIG insect
China News Agency
On January 9th, the Ministry of Natural Resources held a press conference to introduce the progress of the reform of mineral resource management. The press conference revealed that China will fully open the oil and gas exploration and production market.
On December 31, 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the “Opinions on Promoting the Reform of Mineral Resources Management (Trial)” (hereinafter referred to as “Opinions” ) . According to reports, the “Opinions” mainly include three aspects of the reform of the mining right transfer system, oil and gas exploration and exploitation management reform, and reserves management reform, a total of 11 articles.
The market for oil and gas exploration and exploitation will be fully liberalized
The Opinions clearly stated that in the reform of oil and gas exploration and production management, the first is to liberalize oil and gas exploration and production. Domestic and foreign companies registered in the People’s Republic of China with net assets of not less than RMB 300 million are eligible to acquire oil and gas mining rights in accordance with regulations. The second is to implement an integrated system of oil and gas exploration and production. According to the technical characteristics of exploration and exploitation of oil and gas that are different from non-oil and gas minerals, and for the problems that have existed for many years, if the oil and gas exploration right owner discovers the available oil and gas resources, he or she may start the exploration after reporting the natural resource authority with registration authority. . The owner of the exploration right for the oil and gas mineral resources that is to be mined shall sign a contract for the transfer of mining rights within five years and handle the registration of mining rights in accordance with the law.
“This time the market access for oil and gas exploration and extraction, including prospecting and mining rights, has been fully liberalized, which has changed the situation in the past that was mainly franchised by several state-owned companies.” Naturally Yao Huajun, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Mining Rights of the Ministry of Resources, said that various types of market entities including foreign capital and private enterprises, and the addition of various types of social capital will further stimulate market vitality. There are more channels to raise exploration and development funds and form a national Oil companies are the main playersMarket system, increase exploration and development efforts, and improve national resource security capabilities.
At present, China is the largest energy producer and consumer in the world. The Blue Book of China Oil and Gas Industry Development Analysis and Outlook Report (2018-2019) previously released by the China Petroleum Enterprises Association shows that China’s oil and gas external dependence has reached a record high, of which oil foreign dependence is approaching 70%, and natural gas foreign dependence has increased. To 45.3% .
China’s oil and gas exploration and development capacity is limited, and it cannot meet the energy demand for economic growth. Previously, the exploration and development of China’s domestic oil and gas fields have been led by three companies, PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC. In addition, Yanchang Petroleum has a small number of independent oil and gas blocks.
China’s oil and gas exploration and development field has few market competition subjects, which can easily lead to insufficient market competition, low oil and gas exploration and development efficiency and high cost.
The overall idea of China ’s oil and gas system reform has been to “hold the middle and let go of both”, that is, an oil and gas market system in which upstream oil and gas resources are supplied by multiple agents and multiple channels, the central unified pipeline network is efficiently collected and transported, and the downstream sales market is fully competitive. .
The “Several Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Oil and Gas System” issued in May 2017 requires that the oil and gas exploration and production market be released in an orderly manner, and gradually form a large-scale state-owned oil and gas company led by multiple economic components to jointly participate in exploration and production. system.
In June 2019, “Special Management Measures for Admission of Foreign Investment (Negative List) (2019 Edition)” removed the restriction that foreign investment in oil, gas, and coalbed methane exploration and exploitation is limited to joint ventures and cooperation. At the same time, the restriction on the Chinese side controlling the gas and heat pipe networks in cities with a population of 500,000 or more was lifted.
In December 2019, the establishment of the national oil and gas pipeline network company, which has attracted much attention, is conducive to better control of the intermediate pipeline network transmission link and create good conditions for more market participants to participate in competitive business.
Today, foreign oil companies are expected to independently carry out exploration and development of oil and gas fields in China, and the monopoly pattern of the upstream oil and gas industry will be further broken.
Yao Huajun said that since 2012, the Ministry of Natural Resources has successively carried out pilot reforms of shale gas, conventional oil and gas, and coalbed methane exploration rights competition reforms, and conducted practical explorations aimed at entry thresholds. The cost of an oil and gas exploration well is tens of millions or even up to 100 million yuan. It is required that companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and production must have certain financial strength and anti-risk capabilities. The Opinions consider the characteristics of high risk and high investment in oil and gas exploration. Minimum requirements for assets, and regulations should meet safety, environmental protection and other qualification requirementsAnd regulations, and have corresponding oil and gas exploration and production technology capabilities. This time the oil and gas exploration and exploitation market is opened. Any company registered in the People’s Republic of China with a net asset of not less than 300 million yuan is eligible to obtain oil and gas mining rights in accordance with regulations, including foreign-funded enterprises and private enterprises.
The full opening of the oil and gas exploration and production market will bring benign stimulation to upstream oil and gas exploration and production, forming a multi-subject and multi-channel supply, which is a landmark event in the reform of the oil and gas field.
Competitively promote the competitive transfer of mining rights and strictly control the transfer of rare earth radioactive mining projects
In terms of the reform of the mining rights transfer system, the six aspects of the “Opinions” are worth paying attention to:
The first is to comprehensively promote the competitive transfer of mining rights. It is clear that in addition to the transfer of agreements, other mining rights are openly competitively transferred through bidding, auction and listing.
Secondly, the transfer of agreements is strictly controlled. Rare earth and radioactive mineral exploration and mining projects or key construction projects approved by the State Council can be transferred to specific entities by agreement. Similar minerals with deep or upper mining rights can be negotiated to the same entity. Assignment.
The third is to actively promote the transfer of “net ore”, to carry out the “net ore” transfer of sandstone, such as direct transfer of mining rights, to actively promote the “net ore” transfer of other minerals, and to strengthen the preliminary preparations for the transfer of mining rights, according to law Restrictions on exploration and mining areas, such as the ecological protection red line, should be avoided in accordance with regulations, and they should be well connected with the examination and approval of land use, marine forest grass, etc., so that after the mining rights are transferred, the mining rights holders will normally carry out the exploration and mining work.
The fourth is to implement the same level management of the exploration and mining rights of the same mineral exploration right to solve the problems caused by the different levels of management of the same mineral exploration right and mining right. The Ministry of Natural Resources is responsible for 14 important strategic issues such as oil, hydrocarbon and natural gas. The transfer and registration of mining rights for minerals; bulk minerals in strategic minerals are controlled through mineral resource planning, and the provincial natural resources department is responsible for the transfer and registration of mining rights. Other minerals are the responsibility of provincial and below natural resources authorities.
Fifth, regulate the geological exploration work financed by finance. The exploration projects funded by the central or local government will no longer establish new exploration rights, and geological exploration work will be carried out with the project mandate. Where a prospecting right has been set up, the competent natural resource department may continue to handle the prospecting right extension and cancel the prospecting right after completing the prescribed exploration work, and the competent natural resource department shall openly transfer the mining right to various market entities.
Six is to adjust the term of prospecting rights. According to the technical rules of mineral exploration work, the first registration period of prospecting rights established by way of transfer is extended to 5 years.Each extension lasts for 5 years. When applying for the renewal of prospecting registration, 25% of the first area shall be deducted.
Promoting the competitive transfer of mining rights in an all-round way means that no matter whether we are engaged in mineral resource exploration or development in the future, the main way to obtain exploration rights and mining rights is through market competition.
At the same time, the “Opinions” emphasized that strict control over the transfer of agreements. Rare earth and radioactive mineral exploration and mining projects or key construction projects approved by the State Council can be transferred to specific entities by agreement. Mining rights of the same type have been set in the deep or upper part of mining rights. , Can be transferred to the same subject by agreement.
The Opinions also called for the active promotion of “net ore” transfers.
The so-called “net mining right” means that the relevant work in the early stage of the transfer of mining rights is in place, so that the bidder is not restricted by the rights and interests of land, forest land, ground attachments, etc., and can timely complete the registration procedures for mining license applications as required. The proposed transfer of mining rights.
Mining rights are now being transferred more and more frequently. However, due to the inadequate handling of relevant policies at the location of the mining right, unclear responsibilities and local protection, etc., the mining rights holder cannot successfully implement mining after winning the mining right, which has damaged the legal rights of the mining right owner to a certain extent , Is not conducive to the healthy development of the mining rights market. The emergence of net mining rights can better solve this problem.
According to the introduction, unlike the past, before the transfer of net mining rights, the relevant departments have completed the compensation for surface attachments and land leases, eliminating the worries of bidders and avoiding the risk of bidding for mining rights. Various related problems are difficult to solve, and the long-term inability to start construction will effectively stimulate market vitality.
Reserve Management Reform
In terms of reserves management reform, the Opinions require:
First, reform the classification of mineral resources reserves. Simplify the classification of mineral resources and reserves. Solid minerals are divided into two categories: resources and reserves. Resources are divided into three categories: inferred resources, controlled resources and proven resources. Reserves are divided into two types: trusted reserves and proven reserves. Oil and gas minerals are divided into two types of resources and geological reserves. The resources are no longer classified. Geological reserves are divided into three levels according to the degree of geological reliability: predicted geological reserves, controlled geological reserves and proven geological reserves.
The second is to simplify the merger and review filing and registration matters. Cancel the registration link and registration, the content of the mineral resource reserve registration is included in the review and record management, it is no longer an element of the registration of mining rights, and the review and record results are used as the statistical basis.
The third is to reduce the scope of direct government review and filing. Reduced the original 18 kinds of review and filing situations to 4 types, that is, only the exploration right is converted to the mining right, and the mining type and scope are changed. The proven geological reserves of oil and gas minerals during exploration and mining, and other resources have undergone major changes during the mining period Of mineral resources reserves and construction projects overwhelming important minerals for review and filing.
This article is from WeChat public account: China Economic Weekly (ID: ChinaEconomicWeekly) , Author: Xie Wei