According to the statistics from the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s crude oil exports in February 2024 reached 315,531 tons with a value of over $218.5 million, an increase of 75.1% in volume and 77.7% in value compared to January 2024. This is a rare commodity that has shown positive growth compared to the previous month and has the strongest growth rate among all commodities.
For the first two months of 2024, the country earned $336.2 million from crude oil exports with over 492.1 tons, an increase of 7.4% in volume and 7.2% in value compared to the same period. The average export price reached $683.2 per ton, a decrease of 3.1% compared to the same period in 2023.
In terms of markets, there were only three export markets in the beginning of 2024. Among them, Thailand is the largest market. Vietnam exported 194,909 tons of crude oil to Thailand in the first two months, equivalent to over $133.7 million, accounting for 39.6% of the total export volume. The export price reached $686 per ton, a decrease of 2.8% compared to the same period in 2023.
The second and third markets are Singapore and Australia, accounting for 23.7% and 22.7% of the total export volume, respectively.
Notably, Singapore has emerged as a positive market for Vietnam’s crude oil in 2023, with the highest growth rate among all markets.
Specifically, Vietnam exported 116,797 tons of crude oil to Singapore in February 2024, earning over $81.3 million, a significant increase of 216% in volume and 204% in value compared to the same period in 2023. The export price reached $696.5 per ton, a decrease of 3.7% compared to the same period in 2023. This is also the first month this market has imported crude oil from Vietnam.
Singapore is one of the most open markets with a large trade volume in the world. The country has few or no import restrictions or non-tariff barriers exceeding the standards of international organizations (OIE and Codex). Over 99% of Singapore’s imported products are duty-free (except for cars, gasoline, alcohol, tobacco, etc.).
Crude oil is one of Singapore’s major imports. The country often purchases crude oil from other markets for refining and selling. In 2023, Vietnam exported over 30 different types of products to Singapore, reaching over $4.3 billion, a slight increase compared to 2022.
In terms of Vietnam, the country has oil reserves of about 7.2 billion barrels, ranked 22nd in the world in terms of verified oil reserves. From 1986, the first batch of crude oil was extracted from the Bach Ho oil field. In April 1987, Vietnam started exporting crude oil. Currently, Vietnam is a leading country in Southeast Asia in terms of crude oil exports.
On the other hand, Vietnam still has to import a large volume of crude oil to meet the input needs of its two domestic oil refineries, Dung Quat and Nghi Son. In the first two months of the year, the country has imported 2.3 million tons of crude oil, equivalent to $1.36 billion, much higher than the export value.
