People fill up at a Petrolimex gas station in HCM City. Petrolimex posted a profit last year, after suffering a loss in 2014. — Photo petrolimexsg

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Viet Nam National Petroleum Group posted a consolidated after-tax profit of more than VND3.1 trillion (US$137.8 million) last year, versus a loss of nearly VND9.1 billion ($404,000) in 2014.

The company, better known as Petrolimex, said in its financial report dated February 24 that before tax, its profit reached about VND3.8 trillion ($168.9 million) in 2015. This was more than 10 times that of the 2014 figures.

In a statement sent to the State Securities Commission (SSC) last Friday, Petrolimex Deputy General Director Tran Ngoc Nam said that Viet Nam's economic growth of about 6.68 per cent helped the company's production and business results improve.

The results were particularly improved at Petrolimex's affiliates and associated firms, which dealt in such areas as petro-chemistry, jet fuel, insurance and transportation.

Nam said the volume of petroleum sold by Petrolimex in the domestic market grew by eight per cent year-on-year in 2015, and the country's stable monetary and financial policies and reasonable lending interest rates supported the company's profitability.

He said the loss that Petrolimex suffered in 2014 was mainly due to a negative business result emerging at Petrolimex Singapore, one of its overseas affiliates, at a time when global oil prices sharply declined.

The downward trend in global oil prices continued in Q4/2015 similar to what happened in Q4/2014, but the levels of monthly declines significantly narrowed last year. Therefore, domestic inventories saw fewer impacts from falling prices last year.

Also, Petrolimex was to establish less provisional funds for petrol price fluctuations in 2015, he said.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported recently that this country's JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation was eyeing a 10 per cent stake in Petrolimex.

Petrolimex was formed with a charter capital of VND10.7 trillion ($475.6 million) through the equitisation of the Viet Nam National Petroleum Corporation following a government decision in May 2011, before it was recognised by the SSC as a public company in August 2012. — VNS