Trade Ministry suggests auctioning over 100 million liters of gasoline in national reserves

Source

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has consulted with the Ministries of Finance and Planning and Investment over a plan to auction more than 100 million liters of RON92 gasoline, which is used to produce bio-fuel E5, in the national reserves.

A warehouse in HCMC’s Nha Be District stores fuels for the national reserves

Over 100 million liters of RON92 gasoline is now stored in 12 warehouses of the Vietnam National Petroleum Group, the Petro Vietnam Oil Corporation and the Dong Thap Petroleum Trading Import Export JSC, the local media reported.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will pinpoint the volume of RON92 gasoline put up for auction before the auction.

Buyers will pay the costs for pumping the gasoline to vehicles and transporting the gasoline, as well as fees and taxes in line with the law, such as the environment protection and value added taxes.

The temporary starting price of the gasoline was set at VND14,058 per liter. The official starting price of the gasoline will be set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade but must not be lower than the temporary starting price and will be informed to entities participating in the auction.

Eligible participants in the auction will have to make deposits, which are equivalent to 10% of the value of the gasoline. The deposits will be submitted to a separate bank account opened for the RON92 gasoline auction at a bank once a professional auctioneer is chosen. Otherwise, the deposits will be submitted to the bank account of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Participants in the auction can withdraw the deposits one day before the auction at the latest.

The auction was expected to be held at the end of this month. Winners of the auction must make payments within three days from the signing of RON92 gasoline sale contracts by transferring the money to the bank account of the national reserves fund managed by the General Department of State Reserves.

Earlier, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, at a meeting on the fuel demand and supply, had proposed allowing it to tap the national oil and gas reserves to avoid a fuel supply deficit as the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC cut the output of its refinery due to its financial burden.