Is the oil and gas market bidding farewell to "uniform pricing"? The National Energy Administration highlights key points!

Recently, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Department of the National Energy Administration has clearly defined the key tasks for the domestic oil and gas industry in 2026, covering six major aspects including industry planning and compilation, exploration and development, and infrastructure connectivity. Among them, the construction of the oil and gas market system has been listed as one of the six core tasks, aiming to promote the industry's deep transformation from "resource-driven" to "market-driven".

Against this backdrop, the market-oriented transformation of refined oil products and natural gas has become a key focus for deepening oil and gas reform and improving the modern oil and gas market system..

At present, China's refined oil market is at a critical juncture of development and transformation. To promote the in-depth advancement of the reform of China's refined oil market, breakthroughs can be achieved in three key aspects:

1.It is to strengthen full-chain supervision and gradually eliminate hidden tax and fee barriers.

The policy requires enterprises to report purchase, sales and inventory data through the "National Petroleum Market Management Application" every month to build a closed-loop supervision system. Relying on cutting-edge technologies such as big data and the Internet of Things, tax authorities should further refine the granularity of enterprise supervision, block the space for tax evasion through fictitious transactions from the source, and create a more transparent and fair competitive environment for all types of market entities.

2. It is to clarify the positioning of market entities and curb disorderly competition in the form of "involution".

Through precise policy constraints, clarify the market boundaries between wholesalers and retailers. By implementing full-chain supervision over market participants, the transparency of the refined oil products industry will be significantly enhanced, effectively curbing low-price and disorderly competition, and ensuring the reasonable operating benefits of all links in the industry.hey plan for the future. Each equipment procurement represents a step toward this ultimate form.

3. It is to promote the flexibility of regional pricing and accelerate the pace of market-oriented transformation of prices.

Explore the reform of the pricing mechanism, proactively adjust the pricing strategy in accordance with market dynamics, gradually shift from shortening the pricing cycle to "adjusting prices in line with market conditions and at any time", and upgrade from a single pricing model to a three-price linkage model of "offline benchmark price, spot auction price and online pre-sale price", guiding resources to flow orderly to regions with strong demand and enhancing the overall economic benefits.In the future, the core direction of the market-oriented reform of refined oil prices will be to achieve that the retail price is jointly determined by the cost of crude oil and the profit of refineries, and to promote the true integration of the refined oil market into the national unified large market.

From the perspective of the price formation mechanism, China's natural gas market presents a "stratified marketization" pattern. Therefore, to promote the marketization of natural gas prices, it is necessary to cultivate multiple subjects, smooth the transmission through pipeline networks, improve the price adjustment mechanism, and transform the subsidy methods.Two systematic efforts will be made to improve risk tools:

4. we should accelerate the cultivation of diverse market entities to lay a solid foundation for price formation.

Further liberalize upstream access, encourage more entities to participate in natural gas exploration, development and import, and form a fully competitive supply pattern, so that prices truly reflect the relationship between supply and demand.

5. remove the hierarchical blockages in the pipeline network and smooth the price transmission channels.

Promote the fair opening of provincial pipeline networks and urban gas pipeline networks, as well as the separation of transportation and sales, eliminate the physical obstacles of multiple layers of price hikes, and ensure that the cost of upstream gas sources can be smoothly passed on to the terminal.