Petrolimex employees work at a gas station in District 1,
Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen. 

Vietnam’s biggest fuel distributor Petrolimex said its net profits last year of VND1.23 trillion ($53.69 million) were the lowest in five years. 

The profits for 2019 had been VND4.77 trillion, and the company, a fuel distributor with thousands of stations nationwide, attributed the 74 percent fall to the drying up of jet fuel sales after international flights were suspended due to Covid-19 almost for the whole of 2020.

Revenues fell by 35 percent to VND124 trillion. Energy demand slumped last year as the pandemic led to lockdowns and a dramatic drop in energy for uses such as transportation.

With a market share of over 50 percent, Petrolimex is the largest fuel retailer in Vietnam, followed by PV Oil with around 22 percent.