Hanoi, March 10 -- Addressing a meeting on Tuesday with the Government's Working Group established recently to ensure energy security, Pham emphasized the need to ensure energy supplies under any circumstances.

Currently, oil imports account for 30 percent of domestic demand and up to now, the situation still remains under control.

Pham tasked the Ministry of Finance to coordinate closely with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in monitoring daily oil and petrol price hikes, and proactively adopting measures to address hoarding and price gouging.

The Ministry of Finance was requested to promptly propose a plan to reduce the environmental protection tax on petroleum products to zero percent and report it to the Government on March 12. ...