Vietnam Reduces Crude Exports, Increases Petrol Imports in First Elevent Months

Vietnam has so far this year exported 16.4 million tonnes of crude oil valued at US$6.76 billion, and imported 10.4 million tonnes of petroleum products worth US$4.59 billion for local consumption, according to the government statistic office.

 

In the January-November, the outbound crude oil shipment was down 7.6 per cent on-year, but the total export revenues still rose 30.3 per cent due to soaring global prices. The volume of imported petroleum products, meanwhile, surged by 5.1 per cent against the same period last year, and the value also increased sharply by 43.4 per cent.

 

However, no explanations have been given to such increase and decrease. In November alone, the country was estimated to export 1.57 million tons of crude worth US$630 million, and import 850,000 tons of petrol valued at US$440 million.

 

Vietnam currently must export almost of all crude oil for the import of petroleum products to meet ever-increasing domestic demand, because it currently has no operating oil refinery. Vietnam drilled 16.9 million tons of crude oil in the first eleven months, down 7.8 per cent on-year; 5.85 billion cubic meters of natural gas, up 2.4 per cent; and 306,000 tonnes of liquefied gas, down 8.2 per cent.