Ms. Nguyen Thuy Hien - Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that in the first half of the year, the Ministry issued a decision to inspect the maintenance of petroleum trading conditions of 6 wholesale traders and 8 distributors. Up to now, it is still in the process of implementation.

Hai Linh Company Limited (Phu Tho) - one of the large-scale petroleum wholesalers in the North - is also included in this inspection by the management agency.

"In addition, through reviewing the report on maintaining business conditions, the Ministry has directed the General Department of Market Management to inspect 4 main traders and 20 distributors with signs of violations to consider handling according to regulations," said Ms. Hien.

The leader of the Domestic Market Department said that every year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade regularly plans to inspect the maintenance of business conditions of petroleum traders.

"The Ministry of Industry and Trade will have an inspection plan for all major traders and petroleum distributors, whether large or small. This inspection is not related to and does not affect the total domestic petroleum source," Ms. Hien emphasized.

Regarding the compliance with legal regulations of petroleum traders, the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade assessed that in the first 6 months of the year, traders basically complied with the regulations. For example, reporting on maintaining and changing the distribution system, reporting on production, export, import, inventory, reporting on the price stabilization fund, declaring selling prices... periodically and suddenly as required.

However, there are still some traders who have not proactively reported, so the Ministry has to remind them.

In 2024, the total minimum petroleum source allocated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to key petroleum traders (36 traders) will be 28.4 million m3/ton of all types of petroleum.

In the past 6 months, according to reports from 2 factories and the General Department of Customs, the total source of production and import of gasoline and oil in the first 6 months of 2024 reached 12.41 million tons, equivalent to about 15.2 million m3/ton of gasoline and oil of all kinds. Of which, imports accounted for 44.5%, domestic production accounted for 55.5%.

According to reports from key petroleum traders, the total imported and domestically purchased sources in the first 6 months reached 13.8 million m3/ton of all kinds of petroleum, equal to 48% of the total minimum source assigned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, down 0.28% compared to the first 6 months of 2023.

Forecast of domestic gasoline supply in the last 6 months of the year, total production and import sources are about 12.76 million tons, equivalent to about 15.3 million m3/ton.

Total production and import sources (according to traders' reports) are estimated at about 13.3 million m3/ton of various types of gasoline and oil. Estimated consumption is about 13.2 million m3/ton (average of about 2.2 million m3/ton/month). Inventory is 1.8-2 million tons. Thus, the supply of gasoline and oil will be sufficient to meet the needs of people and production enterprises.