Petroleum businesses imported 651,000 tonnes worth US$736 million in July alone, representing an increase of 5.4% in volume but a fall of 9.4% in value compared to corresponding figures recorded in June due to the cooling of world market prices.

More than 3.17 million tonnes of diesel were shipped to Vietnam, making up 60% of the total volume of petroleum products imported into the country as of August 15.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Korea remains Vietnam’s largest petroleum import market, with 2.17 million tonnes in the first seven months of this year, up 92%. It is followed by Malaysia and Singapore that purchased 815,000 tonnes and 753,000 tones, respectively.

The global oil market has fluctuated sharply since the beginning of the year, mostly due to the limitary conflict in Ukraine. In Vietnam, the Nghi Son oil refinery’s decision to cut production capacity in January due to technical problems resulted in a shortage of petroleum in the domestic market.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade immediately requested key petroleum trading businesses to increase their imports by an additional 2.4 million m3 in the second quarter, to make up for the shortfall in output from the plant. The ministry confirmed that Vietnam currently has a sufficient supply of petroleum for domestic use.

Domestic retail petrol and oil prices have experienced 13 increases and seven falls since the beginning of this year. After skyrocketing to more than VND33,000 per litre, the price of petrol RON-95 plummeted in early July and it has since declined five times to VND24,660 per litre at present.

The government is scheduled to announce new retail prices of petrol and oil on August 22 afternoon.

Source: VOV