Idemitsu Q8 (IQ8), the first 100% foreign-owned gas station in Vietnam’s petroleum retail market, officially opened at the Thang Long Industrial Park in Hanoi on October 5.

IQ8 is a joint venture between Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Group and Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd, established in 2016. Each partner owns 50% of charter capital.

The joint venture aims to develop a professional petroleum business in Vietnam in the years to come. Following this first gas station in Hanoi, IQ8 will expand to certain provinces in the south.

IQ8 is equipped with a system of automated station management software that allows card payments and the accurate management of gasoline, providing detailed reports of transactions.

Mr. Hiroaki Honjo, General Director of IQ8, said the joint venture will strive to become the leading gasoline service trademark in Vietnam.

The presence of the first 100% foreign-owned company in the retail petroleum sector is expected to create a more competitive market in Vietnam, where the sector has long been dominated by State-owned monopolies like Petrolimex, PVOil, and Saigon Petro.

Idemitsu Kosan has been operating in Vietnam since the 1990s and also has stakes in the Nghi Son Oil Refinery in north-central Thanh Hoa province and has participated in several petroleum business activities around the country.

French energy group Total appeared in the retail market previously, operating mainly in the fields of liquefied petroleum gas, lubricants, and gasoline. The company now owns a number of Total gasoline stations scattered throughout the country.

Last year, Idemitsu Kosan cooperated with PetroVietnam to invest the Nghi Son Oil Refinery, to take part in the distribution of oil and gasoline.

The Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014 on strategic cooperation with Japan’s JX Nippon Oil and Energy to implement the Nam Van Phong Oil Refinery complex.

Source: http://www.vneconomictimes.com