Incurring big losses because of typhoon Yagi, petroleum distribution enterprises are also suffering from losses as petroleum prices have fallen sharply. 

At a recent meeting reviewing the total petroleum product supply this year and discussing solutions to ensure sufficient supply in the last months, Nguyen Thuy Hien, deputy director of the Domestic Market Management Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), reported that the total petroleum supply, including domestically made products and imports in the first eight months of the year, was 19.6 million cubic meters of different kinds. 

Meanwhile, the country consumed 18 million cubic meters/tons, an increase of 4 percent over the same period last year. The inventory level is 1.95 million cubic meters/tons, the same as the same period last year.

Regarding domestic production, according to Hien, Vietnam plans to produce 6.6 million cubic meters/tons in the last four months of 2024, and import 3.6 million cubic meters per tons. It is estimated that 8 million cubic meters per tons will be consumed, while the inventory would be 1.8-2 million tons.

“In normal conditions, supply in 2024 would be enough to satisfy production, business and people’s consumption,” Hien said.

According to VINPA (Vietnam Petroleum Association) deputy chair Trinh Quang Khanh,  typhoon Yagi and floods have caused serious damages to petroleum enterprises, especially ones in Yen Bai, Lao Cai and Phu Tho. Some petroleum facilities remain 3 meters inundated by water.

Tran Ngoc Nam, deputy CEO of Petrolimex, the largest petroleum distributor, said its 100 filling stations have been affected by the storm, and many of them are unroofed. The circulation after the storm has inundated 30 stations, making it impossible to sell goods.

However, despite the severe damages, Petrolimex can ensure sufficient supply.

“The supply will still be ready even if Soulik typhoon makes landfall in Vietnam,” he said.

As for demand for petroleum products in the last months of the year, Nam believes that it won’t be abnormally high. People in some storm-stricken areas tend to store petroleum products, but this doesn’t happen on a large scale. 

Some major distributors at the meeting proposed reducing the petroleum volume they were assigned to import for 2024.

In the first eight months of the year, 22 out of 34 major distributors imported more than 60 percent of volume assigned to them, and six distributors imported more than 100 percent. The total imports and domestic purchase have reached 18.16 million cubic meters.

Director of the Domestic Market Management Department Phan Van Chinh said the ministry still needs time to think about this as the world’s petroleum market performance remains complicated.

Luong Bang