Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Limited Liability Company (NSRP) is considering doubling the capacity of its refinery complex, scheduled to start operations in July 2017, to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to meet growing domestic demand, said NSRP General Director Kazutoshi Shimmura.

The project was initially designed to produce 200,000 bpd, while local demand is estimated to hit half a million bpd in 2017.

The NSRP is a joint venture between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) which hold a 25.1 percent stake, Kuwait Petroleum International (35.1 percent) and other two Japan-based companies, Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui Chemicals (35.1 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively).

The joint venture is also looking to enter Vietnam’s petrol and oil retail industry which currently serves approximately 39 million vehicles nationwide.

Vietnam has about 12,000 petrol stations in total across the country, more than half of which have no added services, such as vehicle washing and maintenance.

The PetroVietnam owns up to 20 percent of the country’s petrol stations, presenting huge potential for the venture.-VNA