Environmental tax on energy to be slashed from next month

The National Assembly Standing Committee on March 23 passed a resolution on reduction of environmental protection tax on petroleum, oil and lubricants.

Specifically, environmental tax for gasoline shall be cut from the current VND4,000 to VND2,000 per liter.

Meanwhile, tax for diesel, fuel oil and lubricants shall be lowered from VND2,000 to VND1,000 per liter.

In addition, tax for grease and kerosene shall be reduced from VND2,000 to VND1,000 per kg, and from VND1,000 to VND700 per liter, respectively.

The tax on jet fuel, which had been lowered by VND1,500 per liter earlier, remains unchanged.

The tax cut, applicable from April 1 till December 31, 2022, was introduced after the retail petrol prices hit all-time highs of VND29,824/liter for RON95-III and VND28,985/liter for E5RON92 in early March

From 3:00 pm on March 21, retail petrol prices reduced by more than VND600 per liter after seven hikes. 

Specifically, the retail price of RON95 bio-fuel dropped by VND632 to a maximum of VND29,192 (US$1.27) per liter.

The price of E5RON92 was adjusted down by VND655 to VND28,330 (nearly US$1.24) per liter.

Viet Nam to build third oil refinery plant

In a bid to ensure enery security, Viet Nam will build the third oil refinery plant to meet local consumption demand, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh told legislators on March 16.

The plant is set to be built in the southern province of Vung Tau with a designed capacity of 10 million m3 per annum.

The Government tasked the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group to draft the investment project and investment procedures are expected to be completed by this October, Le added.

Le emphasized the need to further increase crude exploitation capacity as the currently exploited crude oil only meets 50 percent of the raw materials for domestic petroleum production.

Viet Nam put into operation the first oil refinery plant in 2009 and the second in 2018 but both plants only meet around 70 percent of domestic demand.

The Nghi Son plant, the largest at present that supplies one third of the country's demand, has cut production output to 80 percent or even to 55 percent at some point due to financial problems.

The cutting has led to a shortfall of petrol, forcing key petroleum businesses to increase imports to stabilize the domestic market, while oil prices skyrocketed in the global market recently.