The Vietnamese Government has given green light to foreign investors to invest in developing oil and gas storage and supply infrastructure system, but they cannot participate in distributing, importing and exporting petroleum.

This was part of the recently approved plan to implement national petroleum and gas storage and supply infrastructure planning for 2021-30 period with a vision to 2025.

State budget will prioritise the development of national storage infrastructure while the private investment will be used to develop storage infrastructure for commercial purposes of enterprises.

The Government encourages private investment in developing the national storage infrastructure following the established planning and standards to serve the national reserve goals.

To ensure national defence and security as well as social security, the Government also eyes to develop petroleum storage system in border areas, islands, and remote areas. These localities will develop storage systems below 5,000cu.m in consistency with the national planning.

Under the plan, the focus will also be on developing the petrol stations along new roads and in new urban areas with an appropriate roadmap to reduce the number of small-scale and inefficient stations.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will be in charge of implementing and supervising the development of petrol and oil storage systems, ensure quality and progress as well as economic efficiency. — VNS