| Natural monopoly industries, under the effect of economy of scale, are important industries which related to the people’s livelihood. So Natural monopoly industries are usually stringently controlled by the government and are exempted from Anti-Monopoly Law. However, as the developing of economic theory and the practice of market economy, some links of petroleum industry are no longer regarded as natural monopoly. Therefore, under the trend of deregulation, two methods of natural monopoly regulation should be put up. On one hand, the management of petroleum enterprises should be separated from the authority, multiple property rights should be developed, the market entrance standard should be lowered, and the price mechanism should be improved as well as the regulatory system which serves for the market function. On the other hand, illegal conducts of the natural monopoly enterprises should be punished according to anti-monopoly law. Petroleum monopoly is a typical kind of natural monopoly, In the process of economic transition in China, the petroleum industrial monopoly made by China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petroleum Chemical Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation should be break up, and energy administrative department should establish unified regulatory system and strengthen the administrative enforcement. As a result, the ex-ante regulation of industry combined with the ex-post regulation of antitrust enforcement will build an efficient petroleum market.This study, on the background of market economy and energy liberalization, has comprehensively used the methods of value analysis, logic analysis, economic analysis and comparative study and discussed the way of establishing a fairly competitive petroleum market through government regulation according to the running regulatory system. There are four chapters in the article:chapter one is the basic theories about natural monopoly industry and its regulation mode; chapter two is the petroleum monopoly in China and the regulatory mode of it; chapter three is foreign regulatory modes on petroleum monopoly; chapter four is the improvement of Chinese regulatory mode of petroleum monopoly.Chapter I, the basic theories about natural monopoly industry and its regulation mode. On one hand, this chapter elaborates the development of natural monopoly in economic theory, and the monopoly links and competitive links in petroleum industry. On the other hand, there are two regulatory modes for natural monopoly, administrative regulation and antitrust law enforcement, both of which has advantages and disadvantages and work together to regulate natural monopoly.Chapter II, the petroleum monopoly in China and the regulatory mode of it. The monopoly structure is existed in the activities of exploration, process, sale, import and export of petroleum industry. And market monopoly has led to the abusive conducts of excessive pricing, discriminatory pricing, deal refusing and compulsory sale. But there are some regulatory defects in state-owned capital running, market access and price supervision in petroleum industry. The administrative departments do not have explicit regulatory targets, and the authorities are decentralized. And the departments of antitrust law enforcement do not have enough power to supervise or punish illegal conducts, which weakens the effects of antitrust law enforcement.Chapter Ⅲ, foreign regulatory modes of petroleum monopoly and the experience for us. This study has investigated parallel regulation in United States, divided-function regulation in German and independent regulation in Russia. The following experience can be learned:countries which are going through economic transition period should not adopt parallel regulation in United States because the power between government departments can not be balanced and restricted by each other. Moreover, divided-function regulation in German can run well, which divides functions of ex-ante regulation and ex-post regulation and could ensure the effects of industrial policy and competitive policy at the same time.Chapter Ⅳ, the improvement of Chinese regulatory mode of petroleum monopoly. Under the guidance of philosophy of efficient competition, the administrative departments are in charge of regulating market structure, and the antitrust law enforcement agencies are in charge of abusive conducts. Moreover, an efficient coordination system should be established through exchanging views, sharing information and corporation in law enforcement. |
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