Government Inspectorate names big companies that trade gasoline and oil illegally

Many illegal trading behaviors

In the conclusion of the inspection on the implementation of policies and laws in the state management of petroleum, the Government Inspectorate said that due to the Ministry of Industry and Trade's lax management, lack of inspection, supervision, non-strict handling, and untimely rectification, petroleum business activities have become complicated.

Many illegal trading activities violate the principles stipulated in Decree No. 83/2014 of the Government. It is worth noting that this has been happening frequently over a long period of time. One example is the case of Dong Thap Petroleum and Trading Joint Stock Company authorizing the trading of petroleum to companies that are not subsidiaries and are not granted a Certificate of eligibility to act as petroleum distributors.

Vietnam National Petroleum Group - Petrolimex authorized its subsidiaries to sign contracts to buy and sell petroleum with other key traders and re-export petroleum with an output of nearly 4.5 million m3. Petrolimex's joint stock companies re-export petroleum with an output of nearly 6.3 million m3.

The Government Inspectorate also pointed out violations in Petrolimex's petroleum business. Photo: Nguyen Phong

PETEC - a subsidiary of PetroVietnam Oil Corporation - PVOil purchased over 87,800m3 of petroleum from key traders and other member units of PVOil. PVOil's subsidiaries sold over 131,000m3 of petroleum to other key traders.

Proposing that the Vietnam National Petroleum Group direct the organization to review and handle responsibilities

According to the inspection conclusion, the application of cost norms and loss norms in the preservation of national petroleum reserves issued since 2003 to assign to the Vietnam National Petroleum Group, Vietnam Oil Corporation, Dong Thap Petroleum Joint Stock Company, Aviation Fuel Joint Stock Company, to sign contracts to preserve national petroleum reserves is not suitable with the current cost level.

This affects the interests of enterprises, does not create motivation and encouragement for enterprises to participate in the preservation of national petroleum reserves, while the State has not yet built a national petroleum reserve system. At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also faces difficulties when requiring enterprises to preserve national petroleum reserves separately according to Article 51 of the Law on National Reserves. Responsibility for this, according to the inspector, belongs to the Ministry of Finance.

However, at the time of inspection, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance had not yet agreed on a plan for the price of Ron 92 gasoline in the national reserve to convert Ron 92 gasoline to Ron 95 (Ron 92 gasoline is no longer a product whose price is regulated by the state and is currently no longer commonly used in the market).

In addition to requesting handling of violations, the Government Inspectorate requested that the Vietnam National Petroleum Group direct the organization to review and handle responsibilities according to its authority for collectives and individuals related to shortcomings and violations.

The Government Inspectorate also requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to inspect and review regulations on contracts for general agents and agents; contracts for the purchase and sale of petroleum between wholesale traders and petroleum distributors, general agents and agents in Circular 38/2014 to ensure strictness. At the same time, it is necessary to overcome the purchase and sale of petroleum through intermediary levels, which increases intermediary discounts and circulation costs.

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