试论我国天然气管网运营的政府监管体系和法律法规建设

Regulation of China’s natural gas transmission businesses

世界各主要天然气生产和消费国政府在天然气运输管网领域的监管重点是市场参与者对管网的公平准入、管道企业的管输服务价格和服务质量。随着我国天然气工业的迅速发展和管道建设的突飞猛进,我国政府需要从运营方式、费率制定、管网准入、普遍服务等方面加强天然气管网环节的监管,以利于天然气工业的长期健康发展。建立天然气管网运营现代监管体系所需要的重要制度安排包括:管道的第三方准入政策;对天然气长输管线运输费率的管制(包括根据天然气上游市场发育的不同阶段对井口价采取或管制或适当管制或放开等不同的监管方式);监管的法律体系建设。我国天然气市场刚刚起步,政府监管还不到位,企业商业运作也还缺乏经验。因此,建议采取以许可证为主的法律—许可授权—商业合同三级法律框架模式,同时,尽快出台《国家能源监管委员会法》(或具体的能源领域的监管委员会法)和《天然气法》,以依法监管,对天然气上、中、下游的经济监管统一规制。

Regarding pipeline transmission businesses of natural gas industry, open and fair access to transmission services for all gas market participants, reasonable transmission tariffs and high quality of transmission services provided by pipeline operators are main regulatory focuses for governments of major gas producing and consuming countries. In order to keep pace with rapid development of nature gas industry and accelerated gas pipeline construction in China, the government needs to strengthen its regulation of gas transmission businesses embracing the way of operation, tariff-setting, open access to pipeline systems, general services etc., and this would be beneficial to a sustained healthy development of gas industry in China. Important system arrangements for establishing a modern regulatory framework for gas transmission businesses include: third-party pipeline access policy, regulation of long distance transmission tariffs (such as adequate regulation of wellhead price or deregulation of wellhead price at different stages of upstream gas market growth), as well as establishment of a legal system for the regulation. The Chinese natural gas market is still in its infancy; government regulation has yet to catch up with the industry, and the nation has little experience with corporate and commercial operation. For these reasons, the authors recommend to accept a licensebased 'three–level( namely Acts – licenses –commercial contracts)' legal framework and simultaneously to draft an 'National Energy Regulatory Commission Act' (or an act focus on establishment of a regulatory commission for certain single energy sector )and 'Natural Gas Act' in a accelerated way so that there would be a unified regulatory system to rely on for both gas upstream and downstream and regulation could be implemented lawfully.