The Ministry of Industry and Trade wants petroleum products from the Dung Quất Oil Refinery consumed domestically and not exported.

It has instructed the Bình Sơn Oil Refinery Company (BSR), which operates Việt Nam’s sole refinery, to give priority to selling Dung Quất’s products in the domestic market to limit the country’s dependence on fuel imports.

It instructed the company to negotiate with oil companies to sell the products and increase the refinery’s capacity to boost its competitiveness.

The ministry promised to co-ordinate with the Ministry of Finance to address tax and other financial issues to help the refinery strengthen its competitiveness.

It plans to allow the company to export only when domestic demand is down and its safe storage limit is exceeded.

In the past BSR has complained that the tax rate it had to pay was much higher than the rates under Việt Nam’s free trade agreements with ASEAN members and South Korea.

This made its products more expensive than imports, it said.

The Ministry of Finance has written to relevant agencies and the QuảngNgãi Province People’s Committee, telling them to seek the Government’s approval for amending the tax rates.

VNS