Vietnamese petrol station operator Comeco (COM) said on Wednesday it plans to import oil products when its oil depot and terminal is completed next year.
"Currently we are only a distributor for state oil product importers but with the new facility we will be able to become an importer ourselves" a senior company official told Reuters.
Vietnam, which allows only 11 state-run companies to import oil products, has said it would consider applications from domestic private firms to import fuel but they must have suitable infrastructure such as oil depots and terminals.
The domestic oil products market, which is expected to consume around 4 million tonnes of gasoline this year, is dominated by state-run Petrolimex. Its share is about 60%.
Comeco, which expects revenues of nearly $117 million this year, said it would invest nearly $8 million in its 40,400 cubic metre oil depot in the industrial hub Dong Nai province, near Ho Chi Minh City in the initial phase of the project.
The project also includes a terminal that could accommodate tankers of between 25,000 and 36,000 dead-weight-tonnes.
"Our plan is to raise the tank capacity to 100,000 cubic metres in the second phase of the project to supply to our expanded petrol stations network," said the official, who declined to be identified.
He said the company, which operates around 32 retail outlets in Ho Chi Minh City, would build new filling stations in other southern provinces as part of its business expansion plan.
Hanoi, which still bans foreign firms from the gasoline retail markets, has been cutting government fuel subsidies and slowly deregulating the fuel market.
In April the government for the first time decided to let importers from May 1 to set their own retail prices, a move that has triggered interest from the private sector to invest in the potentially lucrative fuel market, traders said.
Shares in Comeco rose 1.45% to close at 70,000 dong ($4.3) on Wednesday, valuing the company at 230 billion dong ($14.3 million).
Source: Reuters
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