State urges petrol dealers: ‘buy local’

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has asked PetroVietnam and the Dung Quat Oil Refinery to work directly with domestic petrol dealers, particularly Petrol-imex, to reduce reliance on imports.

Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (Petro-Vietnam) and the refinery must report preliminary plans for production, consumption and stock of Dung Quat’s products by Friday, the ministry said.

PetroVietnam and the refinery should also work out a detailed plan for production in 2011, the ministry said. It also called on the firms to boost consumption of the refinery’s products, including petrol for airplanes, on the domestic market as early as possible.

Nine out of 11

So far, nine out of 11 petrol importers in Viet Nam buy the refinery’s products. In the first nine months of this year, the refinery’s petrol and oil sold on the domestic market accounted for 35 per cent of the total volume sold.

Viet Nam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrol-imex), which has a 50 per cent share of the domestic petrol and oil market, consumed 28 per cent of the refinery’s total output of petrol and oil.

However, domestic petrol consumption is 10 per cent lower than predictions for this year, while production at the refinery was now exceeding the year’s plan by 25 per cent, Pham Dinh Thuc, PetroVietnam’s general director, said.

Fourth quarter

In the fourth quarter of this year, the refinery is expected to produce about 1.9 million tonnes of petrol, while domestic petrol distributors such as PVOil, Petec and Petrolimex have registered to buy just 430,000 tonnes from the refinery.

As a result, stockpiles have reached 75,000 tonnes and are predicted to reach 727,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

Domestic importers should revise their signed contracts to import fuel and buy up the difference from Dung Quat, Thuc said. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam petrol, Vietnam Petrol prices