All of the 18 domestic firms eligible for petroleum imports saw a sharp decrease in the petroleum import quota compared with the level set earlier this year.

Specifically, the Vietnam National Petroleum Corp (Petrolimex) received the largest import quota reduction from 5.18 million to 4.396 million tonnes. It was followed by PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), with 591,000 tonnes.

Of note, PV Oil's petrol import quota was 27,000 tonnes, accounting for 10% of the initial assignment.

Several firms such as the Aviation Petroleum Company, Namniet Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals Company, the Military Petroleum Corp (MPEC), and Dong Phuong Petroleum Company also saw their import quotas on mazut lowered to zero.

Under the current regulations, petroleum importers will not be allowed to import below the assigned levels.

Vo Van Quyen, head of the ministry's Domestic Market Department, told Vietnam Investment Review that the decreasing import quota was attributable to a reduction in petroleum demand or increase in the number of businesses buying petrol from Dung Quat Oil Refinery.

Statistics from the General Department of Customs show that the country imported seven million tonnes of petroleum, with a turnover of US$6.6 billion, last year. In 2012, the import total amounted to 8.9 million tonnes. Economist Ngo Tri Long told the newspaper that the import quota was assigned to traders based on petroleum consumption in the previous year.

However, Long said the import quota also depended on the economy, which is still facing difficulties.

The petrol price stabilisation fund stood at VND170 billion (US$8.09 million) by the end of last year, said the Ministry of Finance.

The ministry reported around VND100 billion (US$4.76 million) was added to the fund after retail petrol prices rose for a period of 20 days last month.

Ten of the 17 petroleum wholesalers reported a balance of nearly VND600 billion (US$28.57 million). Of note, Petrolimex and MPEC, which have large market shares, showed a balance of VND135 billion (US$6.43 million) and VND308 billion (US$14.67 million) respectively. It was estimated that Vietnam consumed 1 million tonnes of petrol each month.