World oil prices

At the end of the trading session on August 30, oil prices increased by nearly 50 cents when US government data showed crude oil supplies were tighter than expected, while concerns about the Chinese economy limited gains.

Gasoline prices have increased for the past three consecutive days. Illustration photo: Reuters

Brent crude futures for October delivery rose 37 cents, or 0.43 percent, to $85.86 a barrel. The October contract expires today, and the more actively traded November contract rose 33 cents to $85.21 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 47 cents to $81.63 a barrel.

In the trading session on August 29, both oil benchmarks rose more than $1 due to the weakening of the USD after weak US employment data reduced the possibility of the next interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve (Fed).

According to Reuters, on August 30, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released data showing that US crude oil inventories in the week ending August 25 fell by 10.6 million barrels to 422.9 million barrels. The daily decrease was three times higher than the expected decrease of 3.3 million barrels by analysts in a Reuters poll, but lower than the "huge" decrease of 11.5 million barrels reported by the American Petroleum Institute a day earlier.

Also according to the EIA, US gasoline inventories fell by 200,000 barrels and distillate inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels.

John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, predicts a sharp drop in gasoline demand because gasoline demand typically peaks during the summer driving season.

Investors are keeping an eye on Hurricane Idalia, which has now strengthened into a Category 3 storm and is set to make landfall in Florida. The storm hit southeastern Georgia as a Category 1 storm on Wednesday afternoon.

In another development, analysts expect Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, to extend its voluntary production cuts of 1 million barrels per day until October, tightening oil supplies.

With this possible extension of production cuts, Saudi Arabia's official price forecast for all crude grades sold to Asia in October will be pushed to its highest level this year.

Meanwhile, the military seized power in Gabon on August 30, which could impact the country’s crude oil supplies, further tightening the oil market. Gabon exported an average of 160,000 barrels per day to Asia each month from May to July, according to ship tracking data from Kpler.

Limiting oil prices' gains during the session were concerns about the economic situation in China, the world's largest oil importer.

The rise in oil prices was supported by a "shocking" drop in US oil reserves. Illustration photo: Reuters

Chinese refiners are poised to boost diesel exports in September by more than 1 million tonnes as they expect to receive additional export quotas from Beijing, traders and analysts said.

Despite production cuts from Saudi Arabia, Russia and others, other exporters such as Venezuela and Iran are filling some of the gap, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. “Ongoing demand concerns could prevent prices from sustaining their rally above $90 a barrel,” Hansen said.

Domestic gasoline prices

Domestic retail prices of gasoline on August 31 are as follows:

E5 RON 92 gasoline is not more than 23,339 VND/liter.

RON 95 gasoline is not more than 24,601 VND/liter.

Diesel oil not more than 22,354 VND/liter.

Kerosene not more than 22,309 VND/liter.

Fuel oil not exceeding 17,981 VND/kg.

It is expected that in the next price adjustment (after the September 2nd holiday) by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, gasoline prices may decrease by 350 - 600 VND/liter depending on the type, and oil prices may decrease by 400 - 600 VND/liter (kg) depending on the type due to the continuous decrease in world oil prices over the past 2 weeks. If the Ministry uses the stabilization fund, the reduction may be lower. However, the adjustment of gasoline prices may change according to price fluctuations during the upcoming holidays.

MAI HUONG

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