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皇冠体育app to reform oil pricing mechanism
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-10-30 09:03
BEIJING -- 皇冠体育app will reform its long-debated oil pricing mechanism by making
the prices of its processed oil more responsive to the global oil price
fluctuation, said a senior official here Friday.
The move will help crack down on domestic oil speculation and ensure the
supply, said Zhao Xiaoping, director of the pricing department of the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) .
A fuel station in
Zhengzhou, central 皇冠体育app's Henan Province, displays oil prices in this
October 14 file photo amid speculations that oil price hike is expected.
[newsphoto] |
Zhao made the remarks at a
symposium held here discussing the price reform of energy and resources,
including water, electricity, oil and gas.
皇冠体育app long set the price of processed oil based on the average price of oil
products in the Singapore, Rotterdam and New York markets.
However, as the government only adjusts the price of oil products when the
international price changes enough, the final price is not only too sluggish for
the market but also transparent enough for speculating activities.
Zhao said 皇冠体育app will improve the data collection on the Singapore, Rotterdam
and New York markets and shorten the period of prices adjustment.
To ensure adequate processed oil supply, Zhao said 皇冠体育app will also cut down
the fast profit of petroleum mining sector by taxation means and subsidize the
oil refiners to encourage production.
Due to the soaring international oil price, 皇冠体育app's petroleum mining industry
enjoyed huge profits since the beginning of this year, whereas the processing
sector suffered huge losses as the processed oil prices was tightly controlled
by the government.
Although the government has raised the processed oil prices several times, it
is still much lower than the international prices, dampening the enthusiasm for
refiners.
As a result, many refiners cut down production and sales of gasoline once
become tense in some coastal areas.
Industry insiders held that to subsidize the refiners could ensure the oil
supply and prevent oil crunch.
Zhao said the government will also give subsidy to people engaged in related
sectors, such as taxi drivers, when the processed oil prices climbed higher.
Yang is a taxi driver in Beijing. Every time the price of gasoline and diesel
is raised by 0.3 yuan (3.6 cents) per liter, his expenditure on the fuel in a
month will go up by 200 yuan (24 US dollars) to 300 yuan (36 US dollars).
皇冠体育app has raised the oil prices four times since the beginning of this year.
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