The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just sent a report on national petroleum reserves to the Government. According to this agency, the national petroleum reserves by the end of 2020 were nearly 371.25 million liters and kilograms (an increase of nearly 13.8 million liters compared to 2016). The cost of storage for 2016-2020 was nearly 291 billion VND.

The total national petroleum reserve by the end of 2022 is more than 367,125 m3, tons. Of which, 55% is diesel oil; over 27% is RON 92 gasoline, the rest is fuel oil and jet fuel (Jet A1).

According to the net import volume of petroleum in 2022 of 52,097 m3 per day, the national petroleum reserve is equivalent to 7 days of average net import.

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Currently, the national petroleum reserve is under storage contracts with 4 enterprises by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

If we count all three types of petroleum reserves, including production, commercial and national reserves, the total amount of petroleum reserves is about 65 days of net imports, lower than the IEA's standards and the targets in resolutions and decisions of competent authorities.

In the context of unpredictable fluctuations in the petroleum market that may affect socio-economic development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is researching to expand and improve the national petroleum reserve capacity, ensuring energy security and balancing petroleum supply and demand in all situations.

Currently, the national petroleum reserve is under a storage contract signed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade with 4 enterprises, including the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex); Vietnam Oil Corporation (PVOil); Dong Thap Petroleum Company Limited (Petec) and Petrolimex Aviation Fuel Joint Stock Company.

In the report, the Ministry of Industry and Trade pointed out some difficulties in implementing national petroleum reserves. According to this ministry, the Ministry of Finance - the agency assigned by the Government to manage the quality of national reserve goods - has not yet issued Vietnamese Standards for goods in the national reserve sector, so the current regulations on norms, loss rates of national petroleum reserves, and handling of loss are being applied and maintained temporarily according to Circular 43/2015 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on loss rates in petroleum trading.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it has twice urged the Ministry of Finance to comment on the above issues, but has yet to receive a response.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed that in the 2023-2024 period, it is necessary to amend and supplement laws such as the Law on National Reserves, the Law on Technical Standards and Regulations, and the Law on Product and Goods Quality. Ministries need to urgently issue technical regulations and economic-technical norms for national petroleum reserves to remove obstacles and bottlenecks in the organization and management of national petroleum.

While waiting for the amendment of relevant laws, the Ministry recommends that the Government and the Prime Minister report to the National Assembly Standing Committee to allow the continued maintenance of national petroleum management as it is now, that is, storing it together with commercial petroleum reserves, until there are new regulations on technical standards and economic-technical norms for national petroleum reserves to remove obstacles and bottlenecks in the organization of national petroleum management, replacing technical standards that do not meet the requirements in the management of national petroleum reserves.

The Ministry also proposed to unify the management of national petroleum reserves. Currently, the Ministry of Finance is directly managing national reserves of essential goods such as rice. Petroleum is also an essential commodity, so the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to transfer the task of managing national petroleum reserves to the Ministry of Finance in the period of 2024-2025.

In the long term, after the new technical standards and economic-technical norms for national petroleum reserves are issued, based on the capacity to meet the demand for storage tanks and the progress of investment in building national petroleum reserve storage facilities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes two options. One is to reserve 20 days of net petroleum product imports by 2025, which is nearly 3 times higher than the current level (not including crude oil in the reserve). Two is to reserve 15 days of net imports, which is more than double the current level and this number does not include crude oil reserves.

Deputy Prime Minister requests to learn from experience in delaying comments on petroleum reserves Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai requested the Ministry of Finance to seriously learn from experience in implementing the Prime Minister's instructions, ensuring quality and progress as required, and not continuing to delay in participating in comments according to assigned tasks.