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Pumps hiking gas price can face criminal charges
Filling stations caught illegally hiking gasoline prices will face criminal charges as Vietnam sees petrol as a critical part of the nation’s energy security, Nguyen Loc An, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Domestic Market Department, warned.
It is reported that many gas stations in some southern provinces have illegitimately raised petrol prices, citing a shortage of supply as a reason.
“We will check on those stations and impose criminal charges on them right away if we find any violations,” An insisted.
Many have been reported to stock petrol by limiting operations or even stay shut to customers in anticipation of a rumored hike in prices in the coming months.
The Ministry has ordered industry and trade departments at local levels to withdraw business licenses of those pumping stations that have committed such wrongdoing, An said.
It will also inspect petrol agents and general agents for any inadequate supply of gasoline to filling stations, An promised, adding a withdrawal of business licenses is inevitable if they are found arbitrarily raising prices.
Go-slow and temporary shut-down
In a related development, many gas stations in some southern and central provinces Monday continued to sell a limited quantity of petrol or stay closed despite high demands during the past few days.
In Ho Chi Minh City, a market management unit in Binh Thanh District found out that a filling station owned by private firm Hoang Nguyen on Dien Bien Phu Street did not open until 11:00 am in spite of their 1,000 liters of petrol in stock.
Similarly, a station owned by the military also closed yesterday even though it had 2,000 liters of A92 petrol, 3,000 liters of A83 petrol, and 7,000 liters of diesel oil at the time. It said those stocks were reserved for internal use only.
The K6 station, also owned by the military, gave the same excuse for its temporary closure.
Inspection forces in the southern metropolitan identified 2 other gas stations that remained closed yesterday, including station number 1 of a state-owned oil firm at 101/1 Luy Ban Bich Street, Tan Phu District and the Au Co station owned by a private company.
The Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department has discovered twenty six filling stations having closed for unconvincing reasons like power outage or a lack of stock since February 8.
Twenty of them have reopened.
In other provinces like Bac Lieu, Dak Lak, Lam Dong, and Dong Nai, petrol stations either closed or limited their sale yesterday.
| Improvised retail spots in Lam Dong Provinces now offer gasoline at VND22,000-30,000 while the official price is VND16,400 per liter, following the temporary closure of many gas stations in recent days. |
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