Vietnam faces fuel shortages

Hundreds of people have to wait in long queues to fill up with gas to go to work at a gas station on Le Van Luong Street, Tan Hung Ward, District 7 (Photo: Tran Dat)

By Phong Lan
Dantri International

HO CHI MINH CITY: People in many localities in Vietnam have had to queue for long hours to buy petrol over the past few days as local stations announced they would run out of fuel.

At a petrol station in the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Dinh Truong said on October 11 that he had been waiting for over 30 minutes to buy petrol.

“I had to walk from two shut petrol stations with my out-of-petrol motorbike before arriving here,” the man said. “Over the past two days, I tried to buy petrol at several other stations in the city but some said they had run out, while others were over-crowded and only sold a limited amount to customers.”

A motorbike taxi driver, Tran Thanh Lam, said that this was the fifth petrol station he had visited so far that day after the four others had announced that they had run out.

“My work has been interrupted in recent days due to petrol shortages,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve faced this problem.”\

Dozens of taxis wait in long lines to fill up at a petrol station in District 11 (Photo: Tran Dat)

Another taxi driver, Nguyen Quoc Trung, said that he has had to refuse many customers as he had run out of petrol.

“Many petrol stations in the city said they’ve run out while others are only selling a limited amount to each customer,” he said. “I don’t have any other choice than to refuse customers. I’ll stop working until the petrol crisis is resolved.”

The fuel crisis has resulted in many people in the city being unable to book delivery services.

Pham Nhu Quynh in Phu Nhuan District said that she booked some noodles for breakfast on October 11 at 8 am but had been unable to find a delivery man until 9 am. And she had to cancel.

“I usually buy things online and find that shipping fees have recently risen despite falling petrol prices,” Quynh said. “Maybe the fuel shortages are to blame.”

The same situation has also occurred in many southern provinces and cities in the country where many petrol stations have to temporarily close due to shortages of supply.

Speaking at a regular meeting of the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and Industry on October 12, minister Do Thang Hai said that they would ask the government to adjust petrol trading prices for businesses to help them avoid losses.

Hai noted that since the end of 2021, the global situation had strongly affected fuel supply and local traders had made efforts to ensure enough fuel for domestic demand.

“Supply from domestic oil refineries accounted for 70-80 per cent and the remainder came from imports, posing great difficulties for local importers,” he said..

According to the ministry, more than 100 petrol stations out of a total of 17,000 in some southern localities have been temporarily closed.

In the early morning of the week, many petrol stations in Ho Chi Minh City were crowded, people were present very early, waiting in long queues to get gas to go to work. Some gas stations in districts such as District 7, 11, 12, Go Vap … people queued for a long time, some people took about 30 minutes to fill up gas (Photo: Tran Dat).

The closures were attributed to the rising petroleum business costs since late 2021. As a result, petroleum traders did not have enough funds to import petrol. They had to maintain sufficient quantities for their retailers and inventories only.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has instructed fuel wholesalers and distributors to work together to enhance fuel supply in some localities facing petrol shortages.

In addition, the ministry has also required market watch teams nationwide to closely work with authorised bodies to conduct inspections and control retail activities and strictly handle price speculation violations.