Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has also requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to immediately inspect petroleum suppliers and distributors, and petrol and oil shops that are closed or temporarily suspended lately to detect and strictly handle the act of hoarding goods for profiteering and other violations in petroleum trading activities.
Because gasoline prices in the world tend to increase in recent days, the Inter-Ministry of Industry, Trade and Finance will adjust the retail price of petrol in the domestic market. It was planned that the prices of domestic gasoline in the adjustment session on February 11 will increase about VND1,100- VND1,300 a liter while oil prices will surge about VND900-VND1,000 per liter.
Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that he would propose to the Government to allow the management of petrol prices more flexibly, not necessarily 10 days like now, but it could be three days or five days for price regulation so that the prices of domestic gasoline are close to the world’s.
The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group said that Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company has just operated Dung Quat Oil Refinery to 105 percent of capacity to meet the increasing domestic demand for petroleum when Nghi Son Oil Refinery has to reduce its capacity.
Meanwhile, many gas stations were still closed in some localities. On February 10, the Market Management Department in the Southern Province of Dong Nai said that it had set up a team to inspect 16 filling stations that had stopped operating or hung signs of running out of gasoline.
The inspection team discovered that 10 gas stations were closed, of which five weren’t managed; worse, nobody kept the keys of the fuel storage; thus, inspectors couldn’t verify the amount of gasoline in stock. Six operating stations hanging a sign of running out of gas had no fuel left. According to the owners of these stations, they have not been accessible to the supply.
Tran Trong Luu, Head of the Trade Management Department under the Department of Industry and Trade in the Central-Highlands Province of Dak Lak, said that through inspection, 19 petrol and oil shops in the area are temporarily closed. Of 19 stations, 16 ran out of petrol while three remaining stores closed because employees were sick. In Dak Nong Province, 15 petrol stations in the province stopped operating because most of them could not import gasoline.
The Deputy Prime Minister stated that the government has issued many management tools, legal mechanisms and policies. The Ministry of Industry and Trade ought to proactively manage the petroleum market to ensure adequate gasoline demand for production and consumption.
The Ministry must be held accountable for the closure of many petrol and oil retail stores lately. The closure of these stations has been affecting the production and daily life of inhabitants in some localities.
The Deputy Prime Minister also assigned the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant agencies in, reviewing regulations on taxes and fees, recalculating the level of business expenses and normative profits in the industry to ensure interests between petrol and oil trading enterprises and consumers and petroleum users.
