3:15:37 PM | 16/7/2009
The state-owned Vietnam National Petroleum Corp (Petrolimex) sold 3 million metric tons of petroleum products to the domestic market in the first six months this year, down 6 per cent on-year, the Chairman of the Board of Directors Vu Ngoc Hai said.
Hai said Petrolimex imports petrol every quarter and then sells the imported products in the following quarter, adding that petrol sales in the first quarter were from materials imported in the fourth quarter last year when the global petrol price was at only US$40 to US$42 per barrel.
Thanks to the trading mechanism, Petrolimex made net profit of VND200 billion (US$11.83) from petrol sales in the first six months this year, Hai stated.
The corporation has to date refunded VND1 trillion of the government’s advance from 2008, including VND600 billion paid in the first half this year, he noted.
Petrolimex will have to refund the rest of the VND800 billion government’s advance by October this year.
Despite the huge profit, the corporation as well as other petrol trading companies in Vietnam is slow to cut the domestic retail prices despite the falling price of petrol in the world market to US$60 to US$64 per barrel.
Petrolimex earned revenue of VND98 trillion from petrol trading in 2008, up 39 per cent on-year while it paid taxes of VND16.1 trillion last year. (VietNamNet)
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