A petrol station is closed during Tet holiday in Ha Nam Province
A survey carried out by Tien Phong Newspaper found that some 80 petrol stations in HCM City and some other southern localities closed for some hours or throughout the Tet holiday.
The closed stations were located at HCM City's District 7, Binh Tan District, Thu Duc City, and some other neighbouring provinces including Binh Phuoc, An Giang, and Hau Giang, causing significant inconvenience for drivers.
Authorities in some northern localities of Ha Nam, Haiphong, Hanoi, Hung Yen, and Hai Duong also issued fines to some petrol stations for selling fuel at higher prices and shutting down without adequate reasons.
A representative of a station in Hanoi said that they could not buy enough stock and therefore had to limit sales.
According to some petrol retailers, since authorities did not fix new retail prices on January 21 as scheduled and instead moved the announcement to February 1, they were selling at lower commissions or even losses after global prices shot up by over USD81 per barrel during the Tet holiday.
