Petrolimex to import 2 million tons of diesel fuel in 2010

The state-owned Vietnam National Petroleum Corp. (Petrolimex) has signed contracts to buy two million tons of diesel oil from four foreign sellers to meet the country’s increasing fuel demand. The sellers include Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) and South Korea’s SK Energy. Petrolimex will likely still meet the country’s demand for next year via imports, as operations at Vietnam’s first oil refinery is not fully stable, traders said. The country’s top fuel importer receives some 40,000 to 50,000 tons of diesel fuel and gasoline a month from the Dung Quat refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai. (December 30, 2009)