In the draftdecree to amend to the Decree No 83/2014 concerning the petrol industry, theMinistry of Industry and Trade proposed the room for foreign ownership to beextended to 35 percent, which would enable foreign investors to participatemore in the domestic retail petrol market.
Thanhstressed that petrol and oil were strategic but sensitive products and couldhave large impacts on the national energy security.
He asked theministry to consider a number of aspects with comprehensive and objective analysisabout opening more doors for foreign investors in the petrol and oil retailbusiness.
Gains andlosses in the short and long terms must be evaluated before a decision ismade, Thanh stressed.
But theproposal has triggered some concerns.
Under thecurrent regulations, enterprises with foreign investment were not allowed toimport, export and distribute petrol and oil. This was to ensure that foreigninvestors would not have control over the petrol and oil market and affect thenational energy security.
Idemitsu Q8was the only foreign investor licensed to operate a petrol retailbusiness in Vietnam. Foreign ownerships at petrol distributors Petrolimexand PVOil were now respectively 20 percent and 35 percent. However, foreigninvestors at these businesses must be approved and licensed by competentauthorities to participate in the petrol retail market as special cases.
The Ministryof Industry and Trade said that opening more doors for foreign investors toparticipate in the petrol retail market would help promote the market'sdevelopment.
Cappingforeign ownership at 35 percent would help to maintain the dominant role ofdomestic enterprises while domestic firms would receive capital,technology and management strategy from foreign investors, the ministry said./.
VNA