Retail petrol prices continue to rise
Retail petrol prices continue to rise
Petroleum importers raised retail fuel prices by VND1,100 (US$ 0.05) per litre starting from 5pm yesterday afternoon.
Petrolimex, the country's leading fuel distributor, announced prices of VND 23,500 per litre for RON 95 and VND23,000 per litre for RON 92, up from VND22,400 and VND21,000 respectively. Kerosene was set at VND21,540 while mazut increased to VND21,550.
The companies' decision followed a request sent to the Ministry of Finance to ask for permission to increase retail prices by up to VND1,400 per litre. However, an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday morning decided on a maximum increase of VND1,100 per litre.
The increase was attributed to the interruption of operations at the Dung Quat Oil Refinery, the only refinery in the country, due to a technical problem, and an increase in global oil prices over the last 10 days. In the Singapore market which supplies over 40 per cent of petroleum for Vietnamese importers, petrol prices continued to increase with A92 up from $116.4 to $127.63 per barrel and kerosene up to $129.28.
This was the fourth interruption at the Dung Quat Oil Refinery since it started production in 2009, according to Nguyen Hoai Giang, general director of Binh Son Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Company – the operator of the refinery.
This is also the third consecutive increase in petrol prices in two months since petrol traders were offered the initiative to adjust petrol prices. Last Friday, the Ministry of Finance officially sent a notice to remind petrol traders to strictly follow regulations when they adjust retail prices.
According to current regulations, the next petrol price adjustment could be made 30 days after the previous adjustment, said director of the Pricing Control Department Nguyen Tien Thoa.
Petrol importers were allowed to adjust prices according to market fluctuations, but the State still controlled prices to make sure that the fluctuations did not strongly affect consumers, he said.
Since early this year, petrol prices have been adjusted 10 times, with five increases and five decreases
vietnamnews
