Minister says petrol price may go down soon

Petroleum importers and distributors have begun making profit as the world’s oil price has been decreasing. Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh said that the petrol price may go down if the world price continues sliding.

According to VnExpress newspaper, petroleum distributors now can make the profit of 100 dong per litre of A92 petrol sold after paying tax and fee and deducting the profit norm of 300 dong per litre.

Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh, when talking with the press on the sideline of the ongoing National Assembly’s session on May 20, confirmed that the petroleum prices in the world market have been decreasing recently after a long period at high levels. Over the last two months, when the prices stayed high, the Government had to use the petrol price stabilization fund and reduce import tariff in order to keep the retail prices unchanged. Therefore, he said that it is necessary to think carefully about whether to ease the retail petrol price.

Minister Vu Van Ninh believes that if the world price continues decreasing for the next several days, his ministry will consider lowering the petroleum prices. However, how much to decrease and where to decrease retail prices will be decided by enterprises.

The world fuel prices have been decreasing continuously over the last few days, and the crude oil traded in New York in the US once dropped to below $70 per barrel, the deepest low since the beginning of the year. In Singapore, the main supplier to Vietnamese enterprises, every barrel of A92 petrol is now traded at $88.61 per barrel.

According to Petrolimex, with 60 percent market share, with such import prices, the enterprise is now making the profit of 98 dong per every litre sold after contributing 500 dong per litre to the petrol price stabilization fund. However, the enterprise still incurring losses with the sale of oil products.

No enterprise has mentioned the decreasing of the retail prices

Head of the Price Control Agency, the arm of the Ministry of Finance Nguyen Tien Thoa said that the management agency still keep an eye over the market performance and the business of enterprises. In principle, the petrol pricing must harmonize the benefit of the three parties, the state, enterprises and consumers.

VnExpress

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