Array of departments to be consolidated
Beijing is to set up a full cabinet-level regulatory body, consolidating all the fuel-related responsibilities of differing agencies, to oversee the country's energy sector, according to a source close to the plan.
The State Energy Commission, as the new umbrella body will be known, will cover 10 or so ministerial or sub-ministerial agencies responsible for oil, gas, coal, power and renewable energy such as nuclear power.
Among the agencies are the Energy Bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), according to the source, also a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The Energy Commission's combining of all fuel-related functions is 'the brightest spot and biggest change' in the government restructuring plan, which is to be unveiled tomorrow at the annual session of the National People's Congress, said the source, who took part in researching the role of the new commission and also read the final version of the plan.
The mainland, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, has been without a centralised energy body since 1993, when the Ministry of Energy was disbanded.
The regulatory and supervising functions are also scattered among the ministries of Technology, Agriculture, Commerce, Water Resources, and Land and Resources, and other organs such as the State Administration of Work Safety and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.