Workers at a Petrolimex fuel station in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen. 

Japanese oil giant ENEOS Corporation has registered to buy 25 million shares of fuel distributor Petrolimex on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. 

The transaction, to be completed in March, if successful, will see ENEOS increase its stake in Petrolimex to 2.94 percent. It had acquired a 1 percent stake last September.

Petrolimex’s PLX shares closed at VND57,300 on February 24, and at this price the deal will cost ENEOS around VND1.4 trillion ($62 million).

The company’s subsidiary, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam Consulting and Holdings Company Limited, owns another 8 percent stake in Petrolimex.

ENEOS is the largest oil company in Japan with a 47 percent market share.

In 2020, due to the impact of Covid-19, Petrolimex saw revenues fall 34.5 percent to VND123.9 trillion. Its net profit was VND1.2 trillion, a 73.6 percent fall.