The National Development and Reform Commission, National Energy Administration, Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, and State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Measures for the Fair and Open Supervision of Oil and Gas Pipeline Network Facilities". The relevant person in charge of the Market Supervision Department of the National Energy Administration accepted an interview with reporters on issues related to the Measures.
The background of the promulgation of the "Measures" is the clear requirement of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to "improve the fair access mechanism of oil and gas pipeline networks, and open up oil and gas trunk pipelines, provincial and inter provincial pipeline networks fairly to third-party market entities". In March 2019, the 7th meeting of the Central Committee for Deepening Reform approved the "Implementation Opinions on the Reform of the Operation Mechanism of the Oil and Gas Pipeline Network", which clearly requires the establishment of oil and gas pipeline network companies controlled by state-owned capital and diversified investment entities.
The Measures consist of 8 chapters. Compared with the 2014 trial version, the new version of the Measures emphasizes more on institutional mechanisms closely related to fairness and openness, such as planning and construction, separation of transportation and sales, and interconnection. In terms of information disclosure, for the first time, it is required that oil and gas pipeline facility operators must proactively disclose their remaining capacity in advance and achieve monthly rolling updates, which is a significant adjustment from the old version of the regulation that "remaining capacity information is disclosed upon application".
In addition, the Measures also put forward for the first time the requirements for the construction of a natural gas energy measurement and pricing system, stipulating that an energy measurement and pricing system shall be established within 24 months from the date of implementation, providing technical support for the measurement and settlement of pipeline facilities after fair opening.