Petrol, oil prices stay up in line with global highs

Petrol retailers hadn’t reduced petrol and oil prices because world market prices for refined products were still high, experts said.

World crude oil prices had dropped by 11 per cent in total to US$77.11 per barrel last week, Ministry of Finance’s Pricing Control Department head Nguyen Tien Thoa said, but it was difficult to reduce the price of refined products in the domestic market because prices remained high on the world market.

Viet Nam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) deputy general director Vuong Thai Dung said world prices stood at high average levels of $91.82 per barrel of A92 petrol, $96.08 per barrel of diesel oil, $95.31 per barrel of kerosene and $494.4 per tonne of fuel oil over the past 30 days. (1 barrel = 159 litres)

At those prices, Petrolimex still lost VND1,400-1,700 a litre of petrol and diesel oil and VND700 a litre of fuel oil, Dung said.

In such a situation, the petrol price stabilisation fund compensated VND500 per litre for petrol products and VND400 per litre for diesel oil and kerosene to reduce dealers’ losses and to stabilise domestic prices.

The Ministry of Finance also cut 3-5 per cent of import tariff for petrol and diesel products, he said.

But, Sai Gon Petro said the compensation did not cover their losses.

The ministry said it had spent VND2 trillion ($105.3 million) to stabilise retail fuel prices and would follow developments on the world market.

At present, domestic retail prices are VND16,990 per litre of A92 petrol, VND17,490 per litre of A95, VND14,600 per litre of diesel oil and VND15,000 per litre of kerosene. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam oil prices, Vietnam petrol, Vietnam Petrol prices