Abstract: Based on the analysis of the pricing mechanism in some foreign countries and of the reform of petroleum product prices in China，this paper draws a conclusion that there are still no fundamental breakthroughs in China′s pricing mechanism. Besides，China still does not have a strong pricing power in the international petroleum markets. This paper holds that the problems existing in the domestic petroleum product markets，including lack of long-termed development plan concerning processing enterprises，imbalance between supply and demand for petroleum products，environment-unfriendly pricing mechanism and pricing system which is always under attack from public，etc.，are mainly caused by the comparatively more serious planned but weaker market-oriented economy in domestic petroleum markets. To solve those problems, this paper suggests some countermeasures as follows: 1) Accelerate the steps of market-oriented reform in domestic petroleum product prices. 2) Establish multi-leveled and multi-layered petroleum reserve systems. 3) Restore the policy of rising prices with additives of fuel oil.

Key words: refined petroleum products, pricing mechanism, imbalance between supply and demand, market-oriented reform