Vietnam's Crude Oil Export Value Up 49 per cent to US$5.6 Bln in First Six Months

Vietnam is estimated to have obtained US$5.6 billion from exporting 6.72 million tons of crude oil in the first six months this year, up 49 per cent on year in value despite a fall of 12.1 per cent in volume, said the General Statistics Office (GSO).

 

In June, the country is forecast to have exported 1.05 million tons of crude oil, down 4.54 per cent on month and 13.22 per cent on year, the office said.

 

The Southeast Asian country is estimated to have raked in US$1.01 billion from shipments abroad in the month, representing a rise of 6.31 per cent on month and 54.9 per cent on year, according to the GSO.

 

&ldquoThe higher earning is mainly attributed to higher crude oil price in the global market that nearly hit US$140 per barrel in recent days but the smaller volume is resulted from Vietnam&rsquos recent decision to apply a 2.5-fold increase in crude oil export tax to 20 per cent,&rdquo an official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

 

Crude oil is now Vietnam&rsquos largest forex earner, contributing 18.86 per cent to the country&rsquos export revenues between Jan and June, said the GSO.

 

Currently, Vietnam has no refineries, and it has to import refined oil products to feed national fuel needs.

 

Vietnam is forecast to have spent US$5.92 billion importing 6.81 million metric tons of petroleum products in the first six months of 2008, up 68.9 per cent on year and 4.42 per cent, respectively, the office said. (GSO Jun 2008)