Accelerate the cultivation of diversified upstream oil and gas entities

In order to promote the domestic exploration and development of oil and gas resources, increase reserves and production, give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, better play the role of the government, and deepen the reform of "delegating power, delegating power, and providing services", the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Opinions on Several Matters Concerning Deepening the Reform of Mineral Resources Management" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") on July 28, proposing to comprehensively promote the competitive transfer of mining rights and strictly control the agreed transfer of mining rights.

The relevant requirements put forward in the "Opinions" are comprehensive, strict and meticulous, which will help promote the in-depth implementation of the reform of the oil and gas system and the reform of mining rights. This is to further tap the potential of oil and gas reserves and production, continue to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of upstream investment, and also show that the upstream reform of the oil and gas industry will focus on promoting the further opening of the market. Dong Xiucheng, executive dean of the Institute of International Business Strategy of the University of International Business and Economics, said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy News.

There are many attempts to "revitalize" resources

At present, China's oil and gas dependence on foreign countries is relatively high. Relevant data show that in 2022, the dependence on crude oil and natural gas will reach 71.2%, and the contradiction between oil and gas supply and demand is still prominent.At the same time, in the context of the increasing difficulty of domestic oil and gas exploration and development and the rigid rise of exploration costs, it is necessary to increase domestic oil and gas exploration and development.

Since the "13th Five-Year Plan", on the basis of the bidding for shale gas prospecting rights, the invitation for conventional oil and gas prospecting rights, and the bidding for conventional oil and gas blocks in Xinjiang, the relevant state departments have entrusted local governments to carry out a number of competitive transfers of conventional and unconventional oil and gas prospecting rights through bidding, listing, auction, etc., so as to revitalize and discover more oil and gas resources and promote the increase of reserves and production.

"Previously, the state has issued a number of policies to provide institutional support for the practice of oil and gas system reform, especially major reforms in the management system of oil and gas mining rights, such as transfer methods, transfer income, approval authority, prospecting right term, and reserve management." Dong Xiucheng said, "The "Opinions" issued this time put forward more detailed requirements for further opening up the oil and gas exploration and exploitation market and implementing the integrated system of oil and gas exploration and production. ”

"The implementation of the open policy on prospecting rights has changed the monopoly of oil and gas mining rights in the past, attracting many enterprises to enter the upstream. In the future, the oil and gas market will also strengthen the fairness of market competition, adopt an equal policy for those oil and gas enterprises that have obtained the status of the main body of the market, and achieve full development through market competition and cooperation between each other, so that resources can be turned into production and achieve healthy development. Dong Xiucheng said.In the future, the reform of oil and gas resources management will continue to advance in the direction of fully liberalizing the upstream exploration and exploitation market and cultivating multiple market players, focusing on the hard reduction of mining rights and the transfer of comprehensive competitiveness.

Diversified competition in the market is still insufficient

"However, at present, there are not enough market players who can really enter the upstream exploration and development of oil and gas, and the pattern of diversified market competition has not yet been fully formed, and the overall change is not too big." Sun Chenglong, a senior practitioner in the natural gas market, pointed out, "Therefore, the "Opinions" are also to give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, and revise the relevant policies on the diversified competition pattern of upstream oil and gas exploration. ”

Since the "icebreaking" of upstream mining rights, private enterprises have entered the bureau to participate in the development of the "feast". Xinjiang Huying Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongxing Hengyuan Mining Co., Ltd., Beijing Xinhe Fengyuan Mining Co., Ltd. and other enterprises have all shared the resource "cake" through open competition, and won a number of oil and gas blocks listed for sale, but only Zhongman Petroleum Exploration and Transfer has achieved certain results."The main reason is that the oil and gas blocks with better conditions have been registered, and some of the blocks that have been obtained are not ideal, and some blocks are difficult to explore and have high risks, and there has been no breakthrough in exploration for many years. At the same time, in the process of energy transition, the interest of some investment enterprises in fossil energy investment has declined, and the pattern of full competition has not been formed. Dong Xiucheng said."Whether we can increase reserves or not, the key is whether there is workload. Without input, there is no output, so more market players need to join. The more you invest, the more reserves you can discover. Dong Xiucheng added.

The interviewees all said that due to the different understanding of the geographical structure of the same block and the technology held by different enterprises, when the efficiency of the block conditions may not be as good as expected, changing operators or joint research and development for re-exploration often achieve unexpected results. "The circulation of blocks is very likely to revitalize resource assets such as mining rights, reserves, technology, manpower, and equipment, and the blocks owned by large enterprises that have not made progress can also be reaped by 'handing over' to private enterprises or foreign-funded enterprises." Sun Chenglong pointed out."However, there is another point to note, that is, our data, mining technology and talent service sharing work is not very good, and most of these 'treasure maps' of data are hidden. In fact, only timely sharing, so that the operating company can fully understand the details of the block and potential risks, can help to discover and exploit more oil and gas resources. Dong Xiucheng said.

Some people in the industry suggest that upstream oil and gas exploration and development is a difficult bone to gnaw, and oil and gas companies should coordinate and complement each other, not only to compete, but also to cooperate. Only in this way can we promote the development of the domestic oil and gas industry.

In the future, it will shift from heavy approval to heavy supervision

The interviewee said that in the future, in order to improve the speed and efficiency of oil and gas resource development, it is expected that the state will further promote the opening up of the oil and gas upstream industry, especially the formulation of more operable supporting policies and measures, attract more foreign capital or private enterprises to enter, and gradually establish a system and mechanism conducive to the competition of market players, and gradually transition from "heavy approval" to "heavy supervision".

Han Yaqin, an assistant researcher at the Strategic Research Center for Oil and Gas Resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources, pointed out in an article that from the perspective of deepening the reform of "delegating power, delegating power, delegating power, and providing services", relevant departments should formulate a list of powers, responsibilities and negative lists as soon as possible to clarify what to manage and how to manage it. At the same time, it is also necessary to sort out the current approval items for oil and gas exploration and exploitation, and further simplify the approval process. "It is recommended to establish a multi-party joint emergency mechanism in order to actively deal with the management difficulties brought about by the entry of more market players.""Helping new market players to familiarize themselves with and master various laws and regulations as soon as possible, and further improving the efficiency of administrative examination and approval, requires the government to invest a lot of energy." Dong Xiucheng said.

The interviewees all said that in the future, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the capital, technology, safety and environmental protection, and risk-bearing capacity of the bidding enterprises, strengthen the review of the comprehensive capacity of the bidding enterprises for oil and gas exploration and exploitation, and curb the irrational phenomenon in the bidding."Opportunities and challenges coexist in the upstream field of oil and gas, and the 'siege' of a high concentration of mining rights is gradually being broken. Enterprises with supporting strength will have more opportunities to take advantage of the policy and obtain greater space for development. Dong Xiucheng said.

For a long time, Sany Energy has been committed to providing efficient and flexible integrated solutions for energy development and utilization, and creating maximum value for customers. In the future, in the oil and gas industry, Sany Energy will demonstrate more comprehensive and professional service capabilities to provide assistance for ensuring the safety of the national oil and gas strategy.