His motorbike has a three-litre petrol tank and he's having to spend more time at the petrol stations due to the serious fuel shortages in the city.

“I’ll stop working until the petrol crisis is resolved," the motorbike taxi driver said.Another taxi driver, Nguyen Quoc Trung, in Binh Thanh District said that he has had to refuse many customers as he had run out of petrol.

"Many petrol stations in the city said they’ve run out while others are only selling a limited amount to each customer," he said. "I don’t have any other choice than refuse customers. I've never faced such problems before."

Trung said that they normally earned between VND700,000-900,000 (USD 29 - 37) a day but the petrol shortage crisis had badly affected their income.

"Now I can only earn some VND300,000-400,000 a day," he said.

The fuel crisis has resulted in many people in the city being unable to book delivery services.

Pham Nhu Quynh in Phu Nhuan District said that she booked some noodles for breakfast on October 11 at 8 am but had been unable to find a delivery man until 9 am. And she had to cancel.

"I usually buy things online and find that shipping fees have recently risen despite falling petrol prices," Quynh said. "Maybe the fuel shortages are to blame."

Petrol traders commit to providing sufficient fuel

Speaking at a regular meeting of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoIT) on October 12, minister Do Thang Hai said that they would ask the government to adjust petrol trading prices for businesses to help them avoid losses.

Hai noted that since the end of 2021, the global situation had strongly affected fuel supply and local traders had made efforts to ensure enough fuel for domestic demand.

Under Decree 95/2021/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 83/2014/ND-CP on petrol and oil trading, petrol traders can import fuel or buy directly from domestic oil refineries.

"Nghi Son, the country's biggest oil refinery, has cut output since mid-January because of a lack of funds needed to import crude oil, triggering a local petrol and diesel shortage," the official explained. "Therefore, the ministry has required 10 key petrol trading companies to increase their imports to make up for the domestic shortage. At that time, petrol traders had to import petrol at very high prices, then the price continuously decreased leading to losses.

Hai stated that the important issue was supply. Supply from domestic oil refineries accounted for 70-80 per cent and the remainder came from imports posing great difficulties for local importers.

The ministry said petroleum trading companies were committed to continue importing more fuel to ensure a sufficient supply for their distribution network.

MoIT’s Domestic Market Department also said that some petrol retailers have asked the department to temporarily suspend business in some provinces and cities such as HCM City, An Giang, Binh Phuoc, and Dak Lak provinces. More than 100 petrol stations out of a total of 17,000 were temporarily closed.

The closures were attributed to the rising petroleum business costs since late 2021. As a result, petroleum traders did not have enough funds to import petrol. They had to maintain sufficient quantities for their retailers and inventories only.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry have instructed fuel wholesalers and distributors to work together to enhance fuel supply in some localities facing petrol shortages.

In addition, the ministry has also required market watch teams nationwide to closely work with authorised bodies to conduct inspections and control retail activities and strictly handle price speculation violations.

Source: dtinews