Vietnam spends $5 billion on fuel imports in 7 months

The import volume increased 15 percent year-on-year while the import value declined 13.5 percent to $4.95 billion.

In July alone, the imported petroleum products reached a record at 1.05 million tonnes, up 61 percent over last year, and the import value rose 7.8 percent to $790 million.

The gain was to ensure domestic supply amid the suspension for maintenance at Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical.

Since the beginning of July, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical have also announced to close for 55 days of maintenance from August 25, after nearly five years of operation.

This plant is meeting about 35-40 percent of the country's petroleum demand.

In April and June this year, the MoIT held two meetings with petroleum producers and trading companies to discuss solutions guaranteeing petroleum supply for the domestic market in the near future.

At the events, a semi-annual preliminary review of the implementation of the minimum total petroleum this year of petrol and oil traders was conducted.

Meanwhile, total petroleum export was estimated at 120,000 tonnes in July, worth $90 million, up 80.2 percent and 52 percent over the same period last year.

For the last seven months, Vietnam exported 1.26 million tonnes of petroleum, worth $1.02 billion.

Source: VNS