Third party in industry can solve problem

Energy companies pursuing profits prefer to sell natural gas to big enterprises rather than for civilian use, because the government strictly controls the price in the latter case. The price of gas has skyrocketed because of the gas shortage and the uninterrupted gas supply to industrial units. Administrative intervention will not only help divert the gas supply to heating stations to give residents respite from the cold, but also protect the energy enterprises from being penalized for breaching their business contracts with the industrial units.

The root cause of the gas shortage is the monopoly market run by China's large energy companies. They refuse to build more underground facilities to store natural gas, citing unfavorable geographical conditions, high costs or non-profitability of building such structures. In fact, China's underground gas storage facilities are few compared with the world average, which help other countries to meet the peak energy demands.

A more open gas market is the answer to China's gas shortage, and third parties should be introduced to the energy industry as part of the reform. Natural gas is not a scarce commodity, so easing access to and encouraging investment from different sources in the energy market will help solve the public heating problem.

Han Xiaoping, chief information officer of China Energy Net