Experts: Oil-gas price changes should be introduced into New York crude oil index

Recently, media reports said that the two major pricing mechanism reform schemes for refined oil and natural gas have already reached the State Council level to be approved. In the future, the transparency of domestic refined oil pricing will increase, and the price of gas may be adjusted dynamically with international oil prices. Yesterday, several experts analyzed with reporters that the content of the refined oil pricing mechanism that is most likely to change is shortening the "reference 22 working days" and increasing the reference for pricing (such as introducing WTI oil prices in New York). The previous media reports said that "the state will decentralize the pricing of refined oil products to the three major oil companies," the statement was unanimously denied by industry experts and experts.

The core content of China's current refined oil pricing mechanism is that when crude oil in the international market changes by more than 4% for 22 consecutive working days, the price of domestic refined oil can be adjusted accordingly. The crude oil in the international market is mainly based on the prices of crude oil in Brent, Dubai and Xinta. A number of experts in the oil industry and price management industry told reporters whether the New York crude oil price index (ie, "WTI oil price") can be introduced in the new pricing scheme.

Liu Feng, an analyst at Zhuo Chuang, said that at present, China's reference to the above three oil prices, without reference to WTI oil prices, mainly because of the quality of Chinese crude oil closer to these areas. If China's Daqing crude oil prices are linked to Xinta spot crude oil prices. Some of the crude oil raw materials of Sinopec Group are also shipped from the Middle East.

Another expert pointed out that since WTI oil prices are mainly set in the United States, and the US dollar is the basis for the valuation of international crude oil, it can become one of the factors of market demand and price changes. Therefore, the introduction of WTI oil prices as one of the references for Chinese refined oil pricing It is not impossible.

Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Development Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, believes that WTI oil prices have been lower than Brent and other oil prices since the second half of this year. Therefore, if the price is introduced as a reference, China's refined oil pricing may become a bit low in the short term. However, the reason why WTI's oil prices are relatively low is due to the recent depreciation of the US dollar and the unfavorable demand caused by economic turmoil in Europe and the United States. No one can guarantee that WTI oil prices have been relatively low. Therefore, in the long run, the introduction of this indicator may not be able to achieve the balance of domestic oil prices.

However, because the relevant national authorities had previously stated that the new price adjustment plan will more flexibly reflect the changes in market supply and demand. Therefore, a number of people interviewed by the newspaper said that the reference period for “22 consecutive working days” was shortened to “10 days” and “15 days”. This is the most recent reform of the refined oil pricing mechanism. One of the possible directions.