Hanoi sets up steering committee for retail network

Vietnam’s capital city authorities have recently decided to set up a steering committee for the development of a petroleum retail network. Hanoi now has over 400 petroleum stations, including over 150 in newly merged areas. Vietnam put its first oil refinery in late February, which helps reduce its dependence on petroleum product imports. To date, over 2,000 tons of diesel oil and 1,200 tons of kerosene refined by the oil refinery of Dung Quat have been sold in central Vietnam, namely in Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces, as well as in Danang City. In the first quarter, the local General Statistics Office predicted that the country would spend US$1.13 billion importing 2.94 million metric tons of petroleum products, down 60.2% on year in value and 17.7% in volume. (March 31, 2009)