Abstract: As clean fossil energy, natural gas occupies 23.7 percent of global primary energy consumption. The proportion of natural gas consumption is relatively low in China, 6.2 percent in 2016. The United States and the UK are typical natural gas consuming powers. The natural gas industry has experienced three stages in these two countries – starting stage, development stage and mature stage. As a result, they have perfect market competitive systems and legal supervision systems. The two countries are different in natural gas development time and experiences. As compared to the United States, the UK saw a more stable natural gas development process appropriately dominated and supervised by the government. To promote natural gas industrial development and maintain a rapid and sustainable growth in natural gas consumption, China should bring the effect of governmental guidance into full play. China should draw the lessons of over-supervision from the United States at the preliminary stage of natural gas development, and learn from the UK the experiences in establishment of a stable competitive market dominated by the government, gradually shaping and perfecting a competitive market system in accordance with the country’s natural gas industrial development.

摘要： 天然气作为清洁的化石能源，目前占全球一次能源消费的23.7%，我国天然气消费所占比例较低，2016 年为6.2%，发展潜力较大。美国与英国是世界典型的天然气利用大国，天然气产业都经历了启动期、发展期和成熟期 3 个阶段，具有完善的市场竞争体系和法律监管制度。两国的天然气发展时间和经历存在一定差异，与美国相比，英 国天然气发展过程更为平稳，政府引导与监管适度。为促进天然气产业发展，保持天然气消费量的快速持续增长，我 国应充分发挥政府的引导作用。吸取美国发展初期过度监管的教训，学习英国政府主导、平稳建立竞争市场的经验， 逐渐形成和完善符合我国天然气行业发展的竞争性市场体系。

关键词: 天然气, 竞争性市场, 发展历程, 美国, 英国