Vietnam will continue importing fuels given an annual shortage of about 0.8 million tons of petrol and 1.8 million tons of diesel oil (DO) in the next five years.

A motorcycle is refilled at a gas station in HCMC. Vietnam will continue importing fuels to meet domestic demand 

According to a report issued June 26  by Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR), the operator of the US$3-billion Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai Province, the country is projected to consume 6.5 million tons of gasoline and 8.5 million tons of DO from 2018 to 2022.

Meanwhile, Dung Quat and another oil refinery, Nghi Son, can supply nearly six million tons of petrol and seven million tons of DO from 2018, representing 92% and 82% of domestic demand respectively.

The shortfall would be offset by fuel imports from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and China.

Nghi Son Oil Refinery in Thanh Hoa Province will be put into operation next year with an annual processing capacity of 10 million tons of crude oil. It is expected to supply 8.8 million tons of fuels, including about 2.3 million tons of petrol and 3.7 million tons of DO, meeting 40% of local needs.

Condensate processing plants such as PVOIL Phu My, Saigon Petro, Nam Viet Oil and Dong Phuong have a combined annual capacity of 690,000 tons of gasoline.

Since its debut seven years ago, Dung Quat has sold over 47 million tons of fuels with total revenue amounting to more than US$36 billion and profit reaching over VND13 trillion (US$0.57 billion) by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

BSR has paid over US$7 billion in taxes to the State.

SGT