Flood of new passengers to stoke demand for jet fuel in Vietnam

Vietnam's jet fuel demand will surge to a record this year as its tourism industry attracts a wave of new visitors and the country's airlines are rapidly expanding. The country is on track to have 38m international passengers and 16m visitors this year, according to data from CAPA Centre for Aviation. That is up from 18m passengers and 8m visitors in 2015, according to the data. "Aviation demand in Vietnam is booming... Fuel consumption in Vietnam will reach a record high this year and will keep rising for the years to come," said Tran Hoai Nam, vice president of Vietjet, Vietnam's biggest private airline. He added Vietnam's growth in foreign arrivals was the highest in Southeast Asia, rising 8.7% annually. The surge in traffic has translated into a rush of jet fuel demand in Vietnam. Through November, the country has imported 1.87m tonnes of the fuel, according to customs data, equal to 14.8m barrels, and up 18% from the same period last year. "For 2018, jet fuel demand in Vietnam is estimated to be increased by about 20 to 25 percent in comparison with 2017, mostly due to the increase in consumption of the international flights," said a Hanoi-based trader at one of country's jet fuel suppliers. Vietnam currently consumes about 18 million barrels of jet fuel per year, according to data from Petrolimex Aviation. Vietnam's jet fuel imports will continue to surge as the country only has two refineries, Dung Quat in the central province of Quảng Ngãi and Nghi Son in Thanh Hoa province, near to the capital Hanoi, which only started operations this year.<br/>