(Adds detail, background)
By Khanh Vu
HANOI, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Vietnam will abolish an import
tax on crude oil from November, the government said on Tuesday,
as the Southeast Asian country becomes more reliant on imported
crude for its refineries.
The country has required more imported crude to offset
slowing domestic output as its reserves decline at existing
fields and because of China’s increasingly assertive stance in
the region hampers offshore exploration.
The 5% import tax will be abolished from Nov. 1, the Vietnam
government said on its website.
Vietnam has two operational oil refineries with combined
processing capacity of 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical bought 1
million barrels of Bonny Light crude in its first import of
Nigerian crude last month
Vietnam's crude oil imports for the January-August period
more than doubled from a year earlier to 5.57 million tonnes as
domestic oil output fell by 6.9%, official data shows.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu
Editing by David Goodman)
BP (BP.)
