Based on the standard calculation of a 50-liter car fuel tank, it will cost about 5 yuan less to fill up a tank of No. 92 gasoline. After this round of price adjustments, the price of diesel has dropped below 6.5 yuan/liter in most areas across the country. The retail price of No

source丨 Caijianjian-Tencent News (tmoneyplus)

author丨 is so high

On December 14, the National Development and Reform Commission website announced that domestic gasoline and diesel prices were reduced by 125 yuan/ton and 120 yuan/ton respectively. Equivalent to a price increase of No. 92 gasoline and No. 0 diesel, both prices fell by 0.1 yuan/liter. Based on the standard calculation of a 50-liter car fuel tank, it will cost about 5 yuan less to fill up a tank of No. 92 gasoline.

After this round of price adjustments, the price of diesel has dropped below 6.5 yuan/liter in most areas across the country. The retail price of No. 92 gasoline has been limited to between 6.6 yuan and 6.8 yuan/liter, with a general discount of about 0.5 yuan to 1 yuan/liter.

The price reduction this time is smaller than the previous three times, but the cost of private car owners and logistics companies is still falling. Taking a large logistics transport vehicle with a full load of 50 tons as an example, the fuel cost will be reduced by about 40 yuan for every 1,000 kilometers traveled.

This price adjustment is the eleventh reduction in domestic refined oil prices in 2018. In 2018, the refined oil product price adjustment situation showed "13 increases, 11 decreases and one stranded".

After all the increases and decreases were offset, the cumulative decline of gasoline this year was 120 yuan/ton, and the decline of diesel was 110 yuan/ton.

Since 2018, the retail price limit of domestic refined oil products has been raised 13 times, lowered 10 times, and stranded once. The cumulative annual increases for gasoline and diesel are 5 yuan/ton and 10 yuan/ton respectively, which have basically returned to the levels at the beginning of the year.

Refined oil prices are expected to "fall for the fourth consecutive year", flattening the annual increase

In this round of price adjustment cycles, international oil prices are relatively volatile, and the industry generally expects that the retail price limit of refined oil is expected to "fall for the fourth consecutive year." According to calculations by Zhuochuang Information, the change rate of reference crude oil on the ninth working day of the first round of price adjustment cycle on December 13 was -2.99%, corresponding to a decrease of 130 yuan/ton for gasoline and diesel. Equivalent to a price increase, 92# gasoline will be reduced by 0.1 yuan, and 0# diesel will be reduced by 0.11 yuan.

Since October, international oil prices have plummeted 30%. It was thought that OPEC's production cuts could boost oil prices, but the production cuts did not achieve the expected effect.

Last Friday (December 7), after a long multi-party game, OPEC and non-OPEC oil-producing countries led by Russia reached an agreement to reduce production by a total of 1.2 million barrels per day starting from January next year. International oil prices rose in response, with an intraday increase of 5%. However, affected by the surge in U.S. crude oil supply, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, and weak demand, oil prices fluctuated and fell in the following trading days.

As of the close on the 13th, the price of light crude oil futures for delivery in January 2019 on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at US$52.58 per barrel, an increase of 2.8%. The price of London Brent crude oil futures for delivery in February 2019 closed at $61.45 per barrel, an increase of 2.16%.

Is oil expensive in China?

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Taking the data on December 10, 2018 as a reference, the price of gasoline in China is approximately US$1.05/liter, which is slightly lower than the global average gasoline price of US$1.11/liter. From the ranking point of view, among the 164 major countries in the world, ranked from low to high, China's gasoline price ranks 68th, and the price is at a moderately low level.

China is the sixth largest oil producer in the world, but it is also the second largest oil consumer. It is highly dependent on oil imports, which also makes China's oil prices relatively high among the top ten oil producing countries.

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Among the ten countries/regions with the highest gasoline prices in the world, 6 are located in Europe, namely: Norway, Italy, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Greece. In addition, oil prices in developed European countries such as Denmark, Germany, Finland, and France are also among the highest in the world.

The reason why oil prices in developed European countries are relatively high is on the one hand because of high labor costs and higher oil processing and transportation sales costs ; on the other hand, some developed countries generally impose heavy taxes on refined oil for environmental protection and other purposes.

The ten countries with the cheapest gasoline in the world are all countries with large oil and gas resources, and six of them are OPEC members. Four non-OPEC countries, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Sudan also have abundant oil resources.

Venezuela is the country with the lowest gasoline prices. Gasoline only costs 0.01 US dollars per liter, which is cheaper than mineral water and is actually free.Venezuela has the world's largest crude oil reserves and, like most major oil-producing countries, has implemented fuel subsidies for decades so that its citizens can enjoy the world's lowest oil prices even as the country is mired in economic crisis and hyperinflation.

Why are gas prices so cheap in the United States?

Generally, countries with higher per capita income also have higher gasoline prices, but the United States is an exception. According to the latest data from GlobalPetrolPrices, the price of gasoline in the United States is US$0.73/liter, which is about 30% cheaper than in China. Why is U.S. gas so cheap?

To understand this problem, we must first understand the composition of oil prices. The cost structure of oil prices is different in each country, but it usually includes four parts: crude oil price, processing costs and profits, transportation and sales costs and profits, and taxes.

Among them, lower tax rates are the most critical factor leading to low U.S. refined oil prices. According to EIA data, crude oil prices accounted for 50% of the cost of gasoline prices in the United States in 2017, followed by taxes and fees levied by federal and state governments, accounting for approximately 19%; thirdly, transportation, sales costs and profits, accounting for approximately 17%, and finally Production costs and profits account for approximately 14%.

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The 19% tax rate is significantly lower than the 60% to 70% refined oil tax rate commonly implemented in European countries. According to data disclosed by PetroChina’s official WeChat account in 2016, the sum of various domestic gasoline tax rates accounts for approximately 48% of the gasoline price.

In addition, the United States has abundant oil reserves and is the world's largest oil producer. It has achieved "self-sufficiency." Benefiting from the substantial growth in shale oil production, U.S. crude oil production reached 13.27 million barrels per day, surpassing Russia and ranking first in the world.

And just last week, U.S. oil exports exceeded oil imports for the first time in decades, becoming a net oil exporter. A report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated that in the week ended November 30, the United States imported an average of 7.2 million barrels of crude oil and 1.6 million barrels of refined products per day, while exporting an average of 3.2 million barrels of crude oil and more than 1.6 million barrels of refined products per day. 5.8 million barrels of refined oil products.

Once again, the US oil industry is fully market-oriented. The United States has the largest number of oil refineries in the world, and every oil company is forced to improve its refining quality and strictly control costs due to competitive pressure. In addition, there are approximately 160,000 gas stations in the United States, more than half of which are self-employed, and the retail price of oil products remains low amid full competition.

This has also led to high volatility in gasoline prices in the United States, with prices almost changing every day; oil prices vary greatly in different regions, and even different gas stations in the same region have different prices.