Double fuel reserves.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien stated that the Government has officially approved the plan to increase petroleum reserves, according to which the reserve level of refined petroleum products will be raised from 440,000 to 800,000 - 900,000 m3, which is double the reserve capacity.

Minister Dien answered questions regarding solutions for fuel reserves.

Combating counterfeit goods; electricity, petroleum, exports, and leveraging FTAs… were among the topics that many National Assembly deputies questioned the Minister of Industry and Trade about before the National Assembly Standing Committee on August 21st.

Representative Tran Van Tien (Vinh Phuc) requested the Minister of Industry and Trade to clarify the issue of petroleum reserves, arguing: "With the current level of petroleum consumption, how long will the petroleum reserves of major traders and the nation last, and what are the Ministry of Industry and Trade 's solutions regarding reserves?"

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien stated: “The government has officially approved the plan to increase petroleum reserves. Accordingly, the reserve level of refined petroleum products will be increased from 440,000 to 800,000 – 900,000 ^m³ , which is double our current reserve capacity. Currently, the reserve capacity is 7 days, but now it will be doubled to about half a month.”

Furthermore, the new decision stipulates not only the stockpiling of refined petroleum products but also crude oil, which is the input material for domestic refineries. Accordingly, crude oil production capacity will ensure 15 to 20 days of net imports. These are two very new points in the Government's decision.

Regarding investment in national petroleum and gas infrastructure, including petroleum reserves, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said that the Government has approved the national petroleum and gas reserve and supply infrastructure plan, and the implementation plan has been disseminated to localities.

Accordingly, there will be mechanisms and policies that require investment from both the State and businesses and the people. However, for State investment to be effective, technical standards must be established.

"This is currently the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Government regulations, and based on those regulations, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will propose specific levels and types of goods for stockpiling," Minister Dien said.

On the other hand, the State's investment in the petroleum reserve system will also be implemented based on the investment decisions of competent authorities. Simultaneously, mechanisms will be issued to attract private investment in this sector.

However, the Minister emphasized that the most important thing is to revise the rental and infrastructure leasing rates. Because the current rates are too low, only about 15-20% of the current market price, it is not enough to incentivize any entity, including state-owned enterprises tasked with this responsibility; the more they operate, the more losses they incur. This issue needs to be rectified.

Regarding the adjustment and management of gasoline and diesel fuel, the Minister stated that the management over the past two years has been very stable because we have adjusted the pricing mechanism, reducing the adjustment period from 10 days to 7 days. Therefore, the fluctuation range between domestic and world prices is not large.

At the same time, a mechanism has been put in place to adjust the actual costs incurred by businesses in the petroleum sector from 6 months to 3 months. Furthermore, in the event of significant fluctuations, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the Ministry of Finance, proposes to the Government to allow adjustments to update the actual costs incurred by businesses to ensure that they do not incur losses.