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In the past decade, international oil prices have halved, but domestic oil prices have risen. Why?


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Time:2018-06-13

【Summary】In recent days, a screenshot ridiculing the domestic finished oil price has been widely circulated in the circle of friends: "Ten years ago, on March 20, 2008, the international crude oil price was 147 US dollars per barrel, and the domestic oil price was 6.3 (yuan); ten years later, on May 26, 2018, the international crude oil price was 75.56 US dollars per barrel, and the domestic oil price was 7.4 (yuan). It may be that the barrel is expensive."

In recent days, a screenshot ridiculing the domestic finished oil price has been widely circulated in the circle of friends:

"Ten years ago, on March 20, 2008, the international crude oil price was 147 US dollars per barrel, and the domestic oil price was 6.3 (yuan); ten years later, on May 26, 2018, the international crude oil price was 75.56 US dollars per barrel, and the domestic oil price was 7.4 (yuan). It may be that the barrel is expensive."

 

In fact, since the international oil prices plummeted in the second half of 2014, similar jokes have emerged one after another. From a purely numerical point of view, today's international oil prices are indeed lower than ten years ago, and domestic refined oil prices are indeed higher than ten years ago. However, China's refined oil pricing mechanism is not as simple as many people think, especially when the consumption tax on refined oil has increased nearly 7 times, it is not reasonable to simply compare figures. When discussing the comparison between 2008 and today's oil prices, the following factors need to be considered:

Oil upgrade

In 2008, private cars still drank national three-standard motor gasoline, and today, ten years later, it is national five-standard motor gasoline, and "26" cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, have been upgraded to national six standards in advance. Oil upgrades, prices naturally rise. According to the statistics of Zhuochuang Information, a market organization, the price increase standards for automotive gasoline and diesel upgraded from country 3 to country 4 are 290 yuan and 370 yuan per ton respectively; the price increase standards for upgrading from country 4 to country 5 are 170 yuan and 160 yuan per ton respectively. That is, the total price increase of gasoline is 460 yuan/ton, which is equivalent to the price increase of No. 92 to 0.36 yuan.

The consumption tax on refined oil products has risen nearly 7 times.

The refined oil consumption tax refers to the taxes and fees paid by consumers when consuming refined oil, which are paid by refineries and other main units in the initial links of production, entrusted processing, and import. The objects of collection include 7 sub-items such as gasoline, diesel, and fuel oil., Belonging to the central tax. China began to levy a consumption tax on gasoline in 1994. In 2008, the domestic consumption tax on gasoline was only 0.2 yuan/liter.

From the end of 2014 to the beginning of 2015, the domestic refined oil consumption tax was raised three times in 45 days. At that time, the Ministry of Finance stated that China's consumption tax is not universally levied, but only levied on "some consumer goods with high energy consumption, high pollution, and high consumption." "The collection of consumption tax on refined oil is conducive to promoting resource conservation and curbing The excessive consumption of energy is a relatively common practice in the world." As for the timing of the tax rate increase, the Ministry of Finance explained that "when the oil price was chosen to go down, it not only did not cause the oil price to rise due to the tax increase, but also realized the synchronization of tax increase and price reduction, taking into account the needs of macro-control and social affordability."

After three increases, the consumption tax on gasoline is 1.52 yuan/liter, which has remained so far.

In addition to consumption tax, Chinese consumers also need to pay value-added tax and urban construction tax when purchasing refined oil. It is roughly estimated that the tax burden cost of the circulation link accounts for about 40% of the total refined oil price.

"Currently, domestic refined oil products include a consumption tax of 1.52 yuan per liter, a value-added tax of 16 percent and other taxes and fees of 12 percent. Due to different oil prices in different regions of the country, the percentage of taxes and fees varies." Xu Na, a refined oil analyst at Zhuochuang Information, told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that taking Guangzhou as an example, the current price of Guangzhou No. 92 gasoline is 7.44 yuan/liter, which includes 1.52 yuan/liter consumption tax and 1.03 yuan/liter Value-added tax, and other taxes and fees of 0.31 yuan/liter. Therefore, on the whole, the price increase of Guangzhou No. 92 gasoline includes a tax of 2.86 yuan, which accounts for 38.4 percent.

In addition, the level of tax burden in refined oil products in the world is different, and there is no horizontal comparability, because the tax burden is related to the policies, oil production capacity, per capita income level and social welfare of each country.

Changes in the pricing mechanism of refined oil products

Ten years ago, there was no price adjustment cycle for domestic refined oil products, which was not closely related to international oil prices.

The current refined oil price mechanism stipulates that gasoline and diesel prices are adjusted every 10 working days according to changes in crude oil prices in the international market, and the effective time of the price adjustment is 24:00 on the price adjustment release date. International oil prices will be adjusted as long as they are between the "floor price" of US $40/barrel and the "ceiling price" of US $130/barrel, and the rate of change corresponds to a gasoline and diesel adjustment of more than 50 yuan. When the price adjustment range is less than 50 yuan per ton, no adjustment will be made and included in the next price adjustment to accumulate or offset.

Because of this, after the international crude oil price soared sharply in 2008, reaching a historical high of US $147 per barrel, the domestic refined oil price did not rise with the soaring international oil price. For the smooth operation of the domestic economy, the domestic "two barrels of oil" did "pay" for high oil prices ".

At the beginning of 2015, the Internet also widely circulated a paragraph about oil prices: "Today (March 20) is a special day. Seven years ago, today in 2008, international crude oil was 147 US dollars per barrel, and China's oil price was 6.3 yuan per liter; today in 2015, international crude oil was 43 US dollars per barrel, and China's oil price was still 6.3 yuan per liter. Have oil prices gone up or down?" A few short sentences have attracted numerous complaints and controversies.

In this regard, Sinopec claimed to be "wronged" on its official Weibo: "Today (referring to March 21, 2015), international crude oil is 43 US dollars per barrel, the European Union is about 9.1 yuan per liter, and China is 6.3 yuan per liter. Seven years ago, today in 2008, due to China's economic situation and pressure from all parties, the price adjustment of domestic refined oil products was reduced. International crude oil was 147 US dollars per barrel, the European Union was about 14.8 yuan per liter, and China was only 6.3 yuan per liter. Who is the 'sucking', you know." (From International Oil Network)


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