Vietnam fuel imports doubled in 2022
Vietnam’s fuel oil and gasoline imports almost doubled to US$9 billion last year from $4.9 billion in 2021.
Volumes were 28% up to 8.9 million tons. Diesel accounted for 54% of the volume, gasoline for 19% and jet fuel for 16%.
South Korea was the biggest supplier, providing 3.2 million tons, followed by Singapore and Malaysia.
The fuel market saw major turbulence last year with many gas stations across the country shutting down in the second and third quarters as retail prices were too low for them to break even.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has instructed distributors to increase supply by 10-15% from last year to 25.9-26.7 million tons this year.
The country’s largest refinery, Nghi Son, cut production by 25% earlier this month due to a technical issue, but fixed it by January 15 and promised to increase production during the rest of the month to make up.
It will again have to shut down starting August 25, this time for 55 days, for major maintenance work.
Some retailers said recently that since authorities did not fix new retail prices on January 21 as scheduled and instead put off the announcement to February 1 they are selling at low commissions and even making losses after global prices shot up during the Tet holidays which lasted from January 20-26.