Hanoi (VNA) – In the face of soaring fuel prices, Minister of Industry andTrade Nguyen Hong Dien proposed several measures for stabilising the market inthe long run while fielding queries from full-time legislators on March 16.

Atthe question-and-answer session of the National Assembly StandingCommittee’s 9th sitting, he said to ensure fuel supply andstabilising the domestic market in the long term, the Ministry of Industry andTrade (MoIT) will keep coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to align petroland oil prices with global fluctuations as well as domestic supply and demand.

The move was aimed at ensuring harmonious interests among stakeholders, namely fuel sellers,businesses using petrol and oil as an input for their operations, and consumers,the minister noted.

Since the year’s beginning, domestic fuel prices have been raised at a slowerpace than global ones, Dien said, adding that some of the world’s fuel productstraded in the Singaporean market that were used to calculate the basis pricesfor the March 11 adjustment increased 44.01 - 60.02 percent from the start of2022, while domestic prices grew by just 24.91 - 39.56 percent.

Themove was also intended to encourage petrol enterprises to maintain supply,reduce speculation, and curb cross-border smuggling, he said.

The official proposed the State Bank of Vietnam order commercial banks toprovide favourable procedural conditions and raise credit limits for wholesalersso as to import petrol and oil in a timely manner.

Meanwhile,the Ministry of Finance should re-consider the costs used to calculate basisprices of fuel products. The Committee for Management of State Capital atEnterprises needs to instruct the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group to swiftly addressproblems at the Nghi Son oil refinery, which has cut down its capacity to 80percent and then 55 - 60 percent since early January, according to the minister.

Givena fall in domestic supply, the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd. boosted its capacity to 103 percent in late January and 105 percent on February7, but is still unable to compensate for the shortage caused by the Nghi Sonrefinery’s shrunken capacity, Dien added.

Asdomestic prices are being adjusted in line with global fluctuations, the supply forthe domestic market will be basically ensured and meet businesses and people’s demand,according to the MoIT.

Theministry has assigned 10 of the 35 wholesale firms to import an additional 2.4million cub.m. of petrol and oil, including 840,000 cu.m. of petrol and 1.56million cu.m. of oil, to guarantee supply in the second quarter if the Binh Sonrefinery is unable to provide a sufficient volume./.