The Vietnamese government has decided to slash domestic A92 gasoline retail price by VND1,000 per liter or 5.55 per cent to VND17,000 per liter, the second time within August, due to the fall in the global oil price and local consumption, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
This is the second price cut in the Vietnamese petroleum market in August as well as since the beginning of this year, the latest happened August 14, the ministry elaborated.
Together with the gasoline price tumble, a liter of kerosene is also down VND1,000 to VND18,000 while the world crude oil price fluctuates at around US$115 per barrel, the ministry said.
The price reduction decision that will take effect from 10:00 am this morning [August 27] is applied for only A92 gasoline and kerosene prices.
Prices of diesel and mazut are kept unchanged as the government is still compensating for these goods, according to the ministry.
Petroleum traders are allowed to decide selling prices of gasoline A90 and A95 on their own but the reduction should be minimal VND500 per liter, a source from the ministry said.
The price fall is resulted from the fact that Vietnamese petroleum traders have made profit of between VND3,500 and VND4,000 per liter of gasoline A92 and VND1,000 per liter of kerosene in the wake of a recent reduction of between 1.4 per cent and 5 per cent in the global petroleum market, the Dan Tri (People’s Intellect) daily quoted Deputy Prime Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu as saying.
The fall in petroleum sales in Vietnam in August against July is also attributed to the price cut, local market watchdogs said.
In the first half of this month, Vietnam National Petroleum Corp (Petrolimex), the biggest petroleum trader in Vietnam, reported an on month reduction in petrol sales of 30 per cent to 200,000 metric tons, the Saigon Liberation newspaper reported August 27. The company’s stockpiled petrol volume hits nearly 800,000 metric tons.
Vietnam now has to import almost petroleum products due to the lack of major oil refineries. Its first Dung Quat oil refinery is under construction in central Quang Ngai province with expected operation in next February.
In the first eight months of this year, the country is estimated to have spent US$9.11 billion importing 9.61 million metric tons of petroleum products in the first eight months this year, up 94.3 per cent on year and 13.7 per cent, respectively, said the General Statistic Office (GSO). (Local sources)
Vietnamese
