Vietnam to reduce product imports

Vietnam will slash petroleum imports by 600,000 million cubic meters (cu m) in 2011 due to higher supply from the Dung Quat refinery, according to a document by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Accordingly, local traders will import around 11 million cu m of petroleum products, including 3.4 million cu m of gasoline, 5.8 million cu m of diesel fuel, 1.54 million cu m of fuel oil, 225,000 cu m of jet fuel and 30,000 cu m of kerosene in 2011. Of the total, state-owned Vietnam National Petroleum Corp. (Petrolimex), the largest petroleum trader in the country, will be assigned to import 6.35 million cu m or more than 50% of the total product imports, while 12 other traders will import the balance. (December 31, 2010)