Gasoline prices the day after tomorrow may be adjusted earlier than usual

“Normally, gasoline prices are adjusted every 10 days at 3pm, but this time, the environmental tax reduction takes effect, the adjustment may be earlier, in order to bring the highest benefits to people, businesses, consumption”, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said at a regular press conference on the afternoon of March 30.

The operating period on April 1 will be recorded at environmental Protection tax with new petrol and oil, according to the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee. Accordingly, each liter of gasoline will be reduced by 2,000 VND and oil by 1,000 VND (excluding VAT).

Regarding the possibility of reducing gasoline and oil prices, Mr. Hai said, depends on world prices. There is no specific calculation yet, but he said that in case the world price increases by 3,000 VND per liter, the domestic price will have to increase by 1,000 VND per liter. However, a positive signal is that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have made more progress, so in the last 2 days, crude oil prices have cooled down despite being high before.

Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department, said that tomorrow (March 31), this agency will gather enough data to calculate the management of gasoline and oil prices on April 1.

About petroleum supplyDeputy Minister Do Thang Hai said that the second quarter did not include the amount of petrol and oil supplied by Nghi Son Refinery, so the ministry assigned the 10 largest petroleum importers to make up for this shortfall.

Particularly in February, according to Mr. Hai, Nghi Son factory only provided 50% of contracts and commitments for suppliers, which caused a shortage of petroleum in the country by 17-20%. Therefore, leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that meeting enough gasoline for the market in February and March was a “great effort”.

Regarding the ability to supply gasoline in the second quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that it will try at the highest level to ensure production and business needs and people’s needs. Early next week, the ministry will work with Nghi Son Refinery to see how much it can supply monthly in the third quarter. The shortfall of the Ministry will require key enterprises to actively import to make up for it.

Currently, Nghi Son Oil Refinery has basically restarted, but the guarantee of supply in the second quarter, especially in May and June, is unclear.

“Until now, we have not received a specific report on the output of Nghi Son refinery that will be delivered to major petroleum companies in May and June,” said Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Domestic Market Department. said.

However, the fact that the import enterprises make up for it, according to him, is not the story of “day one, day two”. Two years of the impact of Covid-19, the main traders basically took products of Nghi Son and Binh Son factories for consumption, only importing products that did not meet the requirements.

“Reconnecting to buy, especially in the context of complicated geopolitics, becomes more difficult. It is not only Vietnam that is looking for petroleum supplies, but many countries around the world too. This will be costly. more for importers,” said Mr. Tuan. Besides, petroleum is not an easy commodity to buy and importers need to calculate and tax rates in each market to make a decision.

Hoai Thu