Policy analysis and suggestions for promoting direct supply of natural gas to large users

First, the connotation of large user direct supply

1.1 Meaning of Direct Supply by Large Users

Large user direct supply can be understood from the two levels of "large user" and "direct supply" :

(1) "Large users", mainly based on annual gas consumption as the division standard, is a natural gas consumption unit determined according to the level of regional economic development. Affected by location advantages, economic level, and gas industry, the scale and pressure of enterprise gas use are also different, so the "big user" standards are not the same everywhere. For example, the "large users" stipulated by Shandong Province refers to industrial concentration areas with annual gas consumption of more than 50 million m3, clean centralized heating, and cogeneration gas projects; The term "large users" in Guangdong refers to gas-fired power plants, distributed energy stations, refineries and large industrial users with annual gas consumption of more than 100 million m3.

(2) "Direct supply" refers to a supply mode in which gas users use pipeline natural gas to reach a certain amount, which can be directly purchased in the natural gas source market by themselves, transported to their own gas facilities through different pipeline routes, and limited to their own use. In the Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission on Rationalizing the Price of Natural Gas for Non-residential Use (Development and Reform Price (2015) No. 351), it is clear that direct supply users refer to users who purchase natural gas directly from upstream natural gas suppliers for production or consumption and no longer resell abroad, or referred to as "qualified users". This contains three layers of meaning: First, direct supply users and upstream suppliers are direct purchase-sales relationship, does not involve the construction of gas pipelines; Second, the purchase and sale resources are natural gas, which can be pipeline gas or liquefied natural gas, and can be domestic gas or imported gas. The third is "special gas and special purpose", which cannot be converted to other purposes.

At present, the "direct supply" mode is mostly related to the large gas users in the user structure of the interruptible users determined by the local gas special planning and the urban gas business enterprises (if there is no special explanation in this paper, it is regarded as having obtained the gas franchise right of a certain region). This mode is an operation mode of unified planning, unified construction, unified scheduling and unified operation of "one network" under the "X+1+X" operation mode of natural gas, and is a symbol of the maturity of the marketization of natural gas pipeline supply. In practice, in some places, when exploring the promotion of direct supply for large users, there has been repeated planning and repeated construction of special pipelines for direct supply, which has affected the order of gas supply and caused a waste of social investment, and is not the "direct supply" encouraged by the above national policies.

1.2 Background of Direct Supply by Large Users

Large user direct supply, mainly to reduce the intermediate links to achieve a win-win situation for upstream units and direct supply users. Under the current conditions of the gas source unit in China, the power to promote the direct supply of large users mainly comes from "three barrels of oil". The earliest reference to "large user direct supply" was issued by the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission at the meeting of the National Price Bureau held in Hangzhou on March 30, 2012, the Guiding Opinions on regulating the price Management of Urban Pipeline Natural Gas and provincial Natural Gas Transportation (Draft for comments) (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft"). The draft proposed: "Encourage upstream production enterprises to supply directly to urban gas companies and large users, reduce intermediate links, avoid layers of transfer, and reduce gas supply costs." At the end of February 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Notice on Rationalizing the Price of Natural Gas for Non-residents" (Development and Reform Price (2015) No. 351), and decided to integrate the price of stock gas and incremental valve station after April 1, comprehensively rationalizing the price of non-residential gas, and at the same time pilot liberalizing the price of gas for direct users.

At that time, the background of the pilot liberalization of the price of direct supply to users is mainly: first, the upper, middle and downstream integration of enterprises such as "three barrels of oil" has signed the long cogas need to be digested, and it is believed that the terminal sales price affects the expansion of the natural gas market; Second, the production capacity of offshore natural gas, shale gas, coal bed methane, coal-to-gas and liquefied natural gas has gradually increased, and the supply and demand of international and domestic natural gas markets are relatively relaxed. The third is the establishment of Shanghai Oil and Gas Trading Center, which has market-oriented trading conditions; Fourth, the direct gas consumption of users is large, and the price negotiation ability is strong.