Currently, China ’s current refined oil price formation mechanism is implemented in accordance with the 2016 “Petroleum Price Management Measures”: the maximum retail prices of domestic gasoline and diesel are adjusted every 10 working days according to changes in crude oil prices in the international market; The upper and lower limits of crude oil price control in the international market where oil is anchored-the upper limit is 130 US dollars per barrel and the lower limit is 40 US dollars per barrel. That is, when the international oil price is higher than US $ 130, the maximum retail price of gasoline and diesel will not be raised or less, and when the international oil price is lower than US $ 40, the maximum retail price will no longer be lowered.

The upper and lower limits are also commonly known as the “roof price” and “floor price” of oil price adjustment. China is both a large oil importing and producing country and a large oil consuming country. If the oil price is too high or too low, it will bring adverse effects. The original intention of the current policy is to ensure the stability of the refined oil market.

“Since 2020, due to the sudden new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the demand for international crude oil has dropped sharply, leading to several plunges in international oil prices since March.” Huang Zhen, member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, said Diesel “floor price” policy, the price of refined oil has not been lowered since the fall of international oil prices since March 18. Although after 2016, the decline in international oil prices has caused the domestic refined oil to temporarily trigger the “floor price” mechanism, but this round of oil plunge is affected by the global economic downturn and the spread of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic. It is expected that oil prices will continue to slump.

“The continuous triggering of the domestic” floor price “mechanism has revealed some drawbacks.” He said that it is mainly manifested in two aspects: on the one hand, the “floor price” mechanism makes It is difficult for ordinary consumers to enjoy market dividends. For example, the spot offshore price of Brent crude oil on May 4 was US $ 20.40 per barrel, which was a 60.2% decrease from US $ 51.31 on February 28 this year. Affected by the epidemic, China’s consumption of refined oil in the first quarter was 64.39 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 12.9%. With the gradual improvement of the domestic epidemic, the resumption of production and economic recovery, the consumption of refined oil is bound to rise, but the artificial maintenance of the price of refined oil through the “floor price” mechanism is not conducive to the overall economic recovery after the epidemic and production and consumption .

On the other hand, the “floor price” mechanism has caused unfair market competition to a certain extent. The risk reserve system matching the “floor price” is mostly state-ownedOil refining companies under the oil company as the main payment body, resulting in the “low oil price” and “floor price” dividends were offset. Local private refining and chemical enterprises are far less regulated by local collection agencies than state-owned refineries, and many private refineries have not turned in risk reserves, resulting in an unfair market environment for state-owned and private refineries.

In the view of Commissioner Huang Zhen, the epidemic has caused a severe impact on the domestic and foreign economies, adjusting the domestic refined oil price formation mechanism and eliminating the “floor price” of refined oil will help Realizing the reform of market allocation of resources has important practical significance for restarting economic vitality and implementing the “six stability and six guarantees” national policy.

To this end, he suggested: First, the “floor price” mechanism of refined oil should be cancelled, and the pricing of refined oil market transactions should be piloted. To change the regulation of refined oil prices, the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Trading Center can be used as a pilot in advance to promote the online pricing of gasoline and diesel stocks and form a spot price reference for the market vane. The government has changed from a price maker to a price regulator in the regulation of refined oil prices, establishing an oil price warning and hedging mechanism that does not interfere with fluctuations in refined oil prices within the normal range. For extreme situations that cause oil prices to exceed expectations, some strategies may be released Petroleum reserves have suppressed excessively high oil prices, and exploration and development subsidies have ensured the normal exploitation of oil resources during periods of ultra-low oil prices.

Second, increase industry supervision and improve supporting financial and taxation mechanisms. Establish and improve the refined oil market supervision system, increase the supervision of the refined oil industry, and build a fair competitive environment for market participants. As soon as possible, we will improve the fiscal and taxation policies that match the pricing of refined oil products, and adjust the consumption tax collection method in a timely and reasonable manner. The collection link can be transferred from the production company to the wholesale or retail terminal. Separating consumption tax from the ex-factory price of refined oil to reduce the burden on production enterprises and help to implement the tasks of “guaranteeing food and energy security” and “maintaining market players” after the epidemic; give full play to the role of tax regulation at the retail end to stimulate and promote the economy development of.

(Original title Commissioner Huang Zhen: It is proposed to cancel the “floor price” mechanism of refined oil)