Five measures to ensure stable supply of refined oil

The Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission recently launched an online poll on “Main Measures to Ensure a Stable Supply of Domestic Refined Oil”. As of January 16, the results of public opinion surveys showed that there are five main measures to ensure the stable supply of domestic refined oil products, among which the “strictly implementing state pricing and maintaining normal market order” ranks first.
For some time, domestic oil supply has been tight. Starting in October last year, there were serious shortages of diesel in parts of Hubei and Hunan. Some long-distance trucks and passenger buses were forced to stop operating without diesel, and some logistics companies had to maintain high oil prices in order to maintain their operations. It is understood that the tight supply of diesel fuel has continued until the beginning of January this year.
In view of this, in order to seek a stable supply of the refined oil market, the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission carried out a timely poll on its website, “What measures do you think should be taken to ensure the stable supply of domestic refined oil products”. As of January 16, a total of 624 people voted, resulting in five major measures to “ensure the stable supply of domestic refined oil products”: “Strict implementation of state pricing and maintenance of the normal market order” accounted for 26.44%; “Rational arrangements for production, efforts 20.67% increase refined oil production, 19.55% increase multi-channel organization resources and increase diesel supply, 15.22% increase resources balance, and rationally allocate resources; and do a good job in resource exploration and development, and continuously enhance the supply of oil and gas resources. "Protection ability" accounted for 15.06%; other measures accounted for 3.04%.
"Strict implementation of state pricing and maintenance of the normal market order" is the main countermeasure, which is highly consistent with the opinions of relevant experts. According to Hu Runzhou, director of the Wuhan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Management Sciences and director of the Urban Traffic Management Institute, the unbalanced prices among regions, the imperfect supply channels, and private oil-suppression are the major factors contributing to the shortage of diesel in some regions. He analyzed that the growth rate of diesel vehicles in Wuhan was not obvious. Sinopec and CNPC increased diesel input several times and still could not meet the demand. This shows that the human factors are more obvious. Due to price fluctuations, diesel oil in some areas has become tight, and private oil-flooding caused by this has led to an increase in this tension.
This result is also basically consistent with the state's policy measures. A notice issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in early August last year pointed out in particular that refined oil production and operation companies should conscientiously implement the relevant provisions on price management and strictly sell refined oil at the prices stipulated by the state. The State Council executive meeting hosted by Wen Jiabao on January 9 this year called for collusion, manipulation of market prices, fabrication and dissemination of price information, driving up prices, illegal profits, and failing to perform price reporting and filing procedures as required. Violations of laws and regulations shall be severely investigated and dealt with according to law.
In order to ensure a stable supply of refined oil products, the National Development and Reform Commission made clear requirements when calling the heads of oil and Sinopec Group companies. First, they must strictly implement state pricing and maintain the normal market order. Strengthen the market situation after the price increase of refined oil products, especially the monitoring and analysis of the internal operating conditions of the two major companies, strengthen the supervision and inspection of their production and sales companies, strictly implement the state-set prices, seriously deal with price violations, and prohibit all forms of Reluctant sellers. Second, we must rationally arrange production and strive to increase the output of refined oil. Under the premise of ensuring safe production, through measures such as delaying the overhaul of some refinery installations, efforts have been made to tap crude oil processing capacity, improve the yield of refined oil products, adjust and optimize the product mix, and increase the production of refined oil, especially diesel oil. Third, we must organize resources through multiple channels to increase diesel supply. According to the market demand, multi-channels will organize diesel resources, strictly control exports, increase domestic resource supply, and ensure domestic market supply. Fourth, we must strengthen the overall balance of resources and rationally allocate resources. The sales companies affiliated to the two major oil companies must do their best to transfer the refinery resources, speed up the progress of physical shipments, and ensure the supply of resources for provincial and municipal companies. Fifth, we must do a good job in resource exploration and development and continuously increase the supply of oil and gas resources. Further increase the exploration and development of resources, and strive to increase oil and gas production to provide stable resources for the market to provide protection.

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