2024 continues to be a tough year for private petroleum enterprises, including large distributors.

In late January, Hai Ha Petro and XuyenViet Oil, the two largest private enterprises in the field, were suspended from customs procedures after their business licenses were revoked following tax debts and abuse of the price stabilization fund. 

On January 23, the investigation agency under the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to take legal proceedings for violating regulations on state asset use and management, causing wastefulness, and violating regulations on accountancy schemes, causing serious consequences that occurred at Hai Ha Petrol and relevant units.

The investigation agency also filed charges against Tran Tuyet Mai, president and CEO of Hai Ha Petro, and detained her for violations related to the price stabilization fund and tax debts. 

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) revoked Xuyen Viet Oil’s license in August 2023 and began taking legal proceedings in the case of "violating regulations on state asset use and management, causing losses and wastefulness" that occurred at Xuyen Viet Oil and relevant units.

The investigation agency also issued a decision to prosecute and detain two Xuyen Viet Oil managers – Mai Thi Hong Hanh, CEO and Nguyen Thi Nhu Phuong, deputy CEO - for "violating the regulations on state asset use and management, causing losses and wastefulness".

Xuyen Viet Oil topped the HCM City Taxation Agency’s May list of enterprises with unpaid taxes with tax arrears of VND1.74 trillion.

Meanwhile, Nam Song Hau Trading Investing Petroleum JSC has been forced to pay tax debts since late 2023 by stopping using invoices. The enterprise was reported as having 90-day overdue tax debts (VND1.1 trillion). 

Similarly, over the last 1.5 years, Trung Linh Phat Petroleum has been named on the list of the biggest delinquent taxpayers as announced by the Ninh Binh Taxation Agency. The company topped the list with tax arrears of VND195.8 billion as of July 31.

Prior to that, in November 2023, the Ministry of Finance’s (MOF) inspectors imposed administrative penalties and issued 19 decisions on forcing the company to pay debts by deducting money from 33 accounts owned by Trung Linh Phat, totaling VND26.3 billion.

In October 2023, the Ninh Binh Taxation Agency issued a decision on forcing the company to pay tax arrears.

Not only does it owe huge amount of tax, the enterprise also has not paid bank debts. Commercial banks have recently offered to sell assets to cover the bad debts.

Problems have also occurred with Thien Minh Duc, a large petroleum distributor. The Nghe An provincial Taxation Agency earlier this year released a decision on applying coercive measures to force the payment of debts by deducting money from a number of Thien Minh Duc’s bank accounts for a tax debt of VND940 billion and delays in tax payments.

Prior to that, the taxation agency had prevented Thien Minh Duc president Chu Thi Thanh from exiting the country.

While most petroleum companies are struggling to exist, Petrolimex reported impressive business results for the first half of the year. 

In a document submitted to the State Securities Commission and the HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) explaining the good business results, Petrolimex showed double the profit of the same period last year.

Petrolimex reported that in the first six months of 2024, post-tax profit of the holding company reached VND1.531 trillion, or VND881.6 billion higher than the VND649 billion of last year.

Petrolimex’s consolidated profit in the first half of 2024 was VND2.421 trillion, an increase of VND862 billion.

Explaining the big profit, Petrolimex said the petroleum trade was good and stable with sales higher than that of the same period last year. The world’s energy and oil prices were stable and did not heavily fluctuate as seen in previous years.

However, Petrolimex gained a high level of profits in the first half of 2024 not only because of stable petroleum trading activities, but also because of the good performance of other business fields.

However, the profits of its subsidiaries which trade petrochemicals and air fuel, in the first six months decreased from the same period last year.     

Hanh Nguyen