1:47:50 PM | 14/10/2008
Gasoline prices in Vietnam may be reduced by VND1,500-VND2,000 or 9.09 per cent-12.12 per cent per liter to VND14,500-VND15,000/liter if the global oil price falls to less than US$80 per barrel, said Vu Ngoc Hai, chairman of Board of Directors of Vietnam National Petroleum Corp (Petrolimex).
The expected price tumble does not calculate petroleum trading firms’ refunding VND3 trillion (US$181.81 million) advanced by the government for their trading losses from 2007 by July 21 this year, Hai attributed.
“If the world oil price keeps stable at US$80-US$90 per barrel, our company will make profit of VND1,500-VND2,000 per liter,” the official said.
If the companies are making profit of VND1,500 per liter of gasoline, it will take them six consecutive months to recover their huge losses, said Ms. Nguyen Thanh Huong, deputy head of the Price Management Department of the Ministry of Finance.
Hai, however, elaborated that petrol firms are very careful when adjusting prices as they are waiting to see whether the government will raise the petroleum import tax or not.
Petroleum retail prices in Vietnam are still kept unchanged despite the plunge in the global oil price to US$77.7 per barrel October 11, the lowest rate in the past 12 months.
Explaining for the situation, Mr. Hai said that petroleum is still under a macro control by the Vietnamese government for national energy security and economic growth; therefore, and enterprises have no entire right to decide the price.
Under the current regulation, petrol enterprises that want to adjust selling price must make a report to the Ministries of Finance, and Industry and Trade for consideration and approval three days before announcing the new price.
Within the three-day period, if the ministries make no response, the proposed prices will be applied; however, if the ministries find any inappropriateness, they will disagree with the proposed prices by sending written documents to enterprises. (Pioneer)
Vietnamese
