HANOI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will remove price subsidies on some kinds of oil in mid-2007 and those on all oil and petroleum products in early 2008, local newspaper Youth reported Tuesday.

    State subsidies on all kinds of petroleum products and oil, including kerosene, will be wiped out early next year, the newspaper quoted Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen as saying.

    Vietnam imported over 11 million tons of petroleum products worth more than 5.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2006, down 3.8 percent in volume but up 16.4 percent in value against 2005.

    Meanwhile, it exported more than 16.6 million tons of crude oil totaling over 8.3 billion dollars, down 7.5 percent in volume but up 12.9 percent in value, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

    In late 2005, Vietnam started to construct its first oil refinery with an annual refining capacity of 6.5 million tons in central Quang Ngai province. The refinery is scheduled to come into operation in late 2008 or early 2009.