Ministries fail to coordinate to solve gasoline shortage: NA delegates

Tran Anh Tuan, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment, told the assembly that the country recently witnessed a fuel supply “shock.”

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance failed to pay heed to real market developments,” Tuan said.

People in HCMC and southern provinces have had great difficulty getting gasoline in recent weeks with many gas stations saying they had run out of fuel or selling restricted quantities.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Kim Be from the southern province of Kien Giang said ministries have been blaming each other in the gasoline supply problem.

“State agencies have failed to manage the market closely and have timely interventions,” Be said.

She said the government should analyze the causes of the problem and clarify which state management agency bears responsibility to prevent future crisis.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said Vietnam has never been short of gasoline.

Dien said many gas stations have closed because global price fluctuations caused them to suffer losses.

In future, the ministry will work with local authorities to ensure an adequate supply of gasoline for the market while punishing or revoking licenses of businesses that violate management regulations, he said.

HCMC Chairman Phan Van Mai said the issue of gasoline should not be taken lightly because the scarcity of this commodity could lead to food insecurity and crisis.

Mai suggested a more detailed assessment by petroleum management agencies about the situation, and the establishment of an energy reserve mechanism, especially to secure supply in major economic centers like Hanoi, HCMC, Da Nang and Hai Phong.

In Vietnam there are 36 suppliers who either import gasoline from other countries or source from the two domestic refineries Dung Quat and Nghi Son, 500 distributors, and 17,000 gas stations.