HCMC – A Ministry of Industry and Trade inspection team yesterday, February 10, unexpectedly examined a gas station owned by the Huu Loc Company in Soc Trang Province, discovering that the station announced it is closing down despite having thousands of liters of petrol left.
Among the four gasoline pumps at the station, which is located in An Lac Tay Commune, Ke Sach District of the province, the team found that two pumps ran out of A92 gasoline while the remaining two had around 7,000 liters of E5 bio-fuel available in the station’s storage tank. The station owner explained that its distributor had just delivered the gasoline, so it had yet to open for sale.
The ministry’s chief inspector Le Viet Long, who led the inspection team, said that regardless of any reason, cases of hoarding fuel would be handled strictly, since fuel hoarding would cause troubles to efforts to regulate the fuel supply and leave serious impacts on the country’s economic recovery program.
Earlier in the day, the team had inspected another filling station in Vinh Long Province where local residents and press agencies previously reported that some stations there suspended operations. Findings of the team showed that the station had no gasoline left in its storage tank at the time of inspection, and it had to shut down while waiting for replenishment.
These visits to southern localities were conducted after Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien formed an inspection team to check the regulatory compliance among fuel trading businesses, to ensure a sufficient supply of fuel in any circumstances.
Besides, the team will inspect other fuel businesses across the country.
Following inspection results, the ministry will team up with local authorities and the relevant agencies to handle violations in line with the prevailing regulations. Especially, the forces will suspend the operations and withdraw business licenses of violators.
