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PV Oil, Petec and Dong Thap Petroleum said prices of fuel products have
surged since the beginning of this year and they have incurred losses
of as much as VND1,000 per liter,according to local media sources.
Petrolimex, which holds about 70 percent market share in Vietnam,
has not requested any price hikes to date. According to local media
reports , the Finance Ministry said it has received the request of the
three fuel traders but it plans to use tax policies and money from a
government fund to stabilize prices first before considering price
hikes. The government set up the fund early this year by collecting a
portion of the retail sales revenues to stabilize retail prices of fuel
products in case global prices rose dramatically.
The government allowed fuel traders to cut retail prices of fuel
products by up to VND500 per liter after there were steep declines in
global oil markets. The popular 92-octane gasoline is now priced at
VND15,200 ($0.85) per liter. Kerosene retails at VND13,800 and diesel
at VND12,800 per liter. Traders in Vietnam must get state
permission for all price changes. But this condition will be removed by
a new decree effective December 15 that allows traders to raise prices
to a certain level without the government’s okay.
Meanwhile, Petrovietnam's trading arm, PV Oil, has opened its first
service station in Cambodia as part of a project to expand its retail
business overseas. "This is the start of a chain of oil product
distribution outlets overseas," PV Oil's subsidary, Petromekong, said
in a statement. Initially, the service station will retail oil
products imported by PV Oil from foreign refineries but eventually
Petromekong would distribute products from Petrovietnam's refineries,
an official from PV Oil in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Petrovietnam started operations at Vietnam's first refinery, the
140,000-bpd Dung Quat plant, in February this year. The refinery can
meet 30 percent of domestic demand. Two more refineries are
planned and when they come online Vietnam would have a total refining
capacity of around 600,000 bpd by 2015, about 150,000 bpd of which
could be available for export, Petrovietnam officials have said.
In addition to Cambodia, PV Oil was also looking at opportunities to
open service stations in Laos, company officials have said.
PetrolWorld 011109
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