A customer buys petrol at a station in Ha Noi. Petrol prices have increased four times this year with an additional rise of VND5,040 per litre. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The retail price of petrol and biofuel E5 RON 92 fell by VND768 to VND18,536 (US 82 cents) and VND18,041 (80 cents) per litre starting from 3pm yesterday, following a drop in global fuel prices, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) said.

The price of diesel fell by VND441 to VND13,521 (60 cents) per litre. The price of kerosene fell 703 per litre to VND12,409 (55 cents), while that of mazut dropped by VND736 per kilo to VND10,136 (45 cents) per kilo.

In addition, MOIT and the Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement that they had decided to keep the petrol price stabilisation fund unchanged.

Statistics from MOIT show that petrol prices have increased four times this year with an additional rise of VND5,040 per litre. This has been the sixth reduction in petrol prices with an average decrease of VND3,600 per litre this year.

The fuel prices in the world market have sharply fallen and some petrol traders have reported high profits.

The Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) reported after-tax profits of VND1.125 trillion ($50.8 million) in the second quarter, an increase of 172 per cent over the same period last year.

The group released its consolidated financial statement last week, saying that it had reached VND43.565 trillion ($1.97 billion) in net revenue, down 22 per cent compared to the same period last year.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery was at $71.79 a barrel, down 0.29 per cent from its sellinge price in electronic trading in New York on Tuesday – the lowest level since March 2009.

Brent crude in London also fell by 0.29 per cent to $48.6 a barrel.

In the Asian market, the crude oil price fell $0.62 a barrel to $41.88, lower than the record low of $42.03 a barrel in March. — VNS