Petroleum supply must not be disrupted in any scenarios

Timely supply of petroleum

Addressing the meeting, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said in the first half of 2023, the world economy continued to fall into recession with inflation and supply disruptions of many commodities recorded. Due to the global economic recession, the demand for petroleum was not high, the world supply was not too scarce, and petroleum prices remained stable.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien chairs a meeting with major petroleum trading enterprises - Photo: Ca Huong

Domestically, the petroleum output from Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Plant and Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company was quite stable.

Minister Dien confirmed that, in general, key petroleum trading enterprises strictly followed legal regulations on petroleum supply and trading. Many of them made great efforts to overcome difficulties to provide timely and adequate petroleum for their distribution systems.

As for domestic petroleum production, the two enterprises of Binh Son and Nghi Son also made great efforts in operation and exploitation to supply the market with their committed output. Meanwhile, arising problems in petroleum production, supply and trading have been mentioned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in the draft Decree amending and supplementing Decree 83/2014/ND- CP and Decree 95/2021/ND-CP on petroleum trading.

Key tasks

Apart from positive results, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien frankly pointed to shortcomings, limitations and obstacles in petroleum supply and trading, as well as reasons for the problems. He also forecast the world and domestic economic circumstances in the coming time, and also the domestic supply and demand for petroleum in the remaining months of the year.

To secure adequate and timely petroleum supply, the minister urged key petroleum trading and production enterprises and relevant units to perform well the following tasks:

First, report their petroleum production and trading performance in the past six months to the MoIT before July 15, 2023 as a basis for inspections when necessary, focusing on the minimum production plan assigned (both domestic and imported) at the beginning of this year.

Second, the supply from Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical plant will be interrupted from mid-August to the end of September or early October for routine maintenance. Therefore, the MoIT required the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group and Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical plant to develop technical plans and mobilize human resources to operate at full capacity for sufficient supply as per their commitment.

Third, strictly follow legal regulations on the functions, tasks, obligations and interests of major petroleum trading enterprises, especially those on compulsory commercial reserve; profit allocations in the system and management of the petroleum price stabilization fund.

Fourth, be more proactive and drastic in corporate restructuring; promote the application of digital transformation in production and business activities. Specifically, they are to connect information and data in real time and urgently apply electronic documents and invoices in business activities from August 1, 2023.

Fifth, regularly provide data related to the price calculation formulas of petroleum trading companies; at the same time, provide public and objective information to the press about business activities of enterprises on their websites.