Petroleum Association Of Japan Training Program
Andrew M. Crawford
Waterborn Environmental
Technical Advisor ToPetroleum Association of Japan
BackgroundPetroleum Association of Japan is a non profit making and non governmental
trade association established in 1955 to encourage the sound development of
the Japanese petroleum industry. Petroleum Association of Japan comprises of
21 major oil companies in Japan who have in 1973 formed PAJ Oil Spill Cooperative (POSCO) as a voluntary mutual aid organization based on lessons
learned from the JURIANA incident in Japan in 1971.
As world events progressed, concern about the marine environment grew until awhole new approach to oil spill was triggered on March 24th 1989 by the Exxon
Valdez. Since then many countries operating procedures have changed in linewith the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the IMO OPRC Convention. In 1990 thethen Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) now the Ministry ofEconomy Trade and Industry (METI) arranged a government subsidy for a Major
Oil Spill Response Program to be started and implemented by Petroleum
Association of Japan.
This Major Oil Spill Response Program was started in 1991and today some 10plus years later has evolved into reliable and well operated organization with 11
oil spill bases, well trained members and an excellent international reputation.
The Major Oil Spill Response Program activities are split into 3 categories thesebeing Preparedness and Response, Research and Development and Hosting
International Conferences such as this. A Major part of Preparedness andResponse is training and that is the subject which I would like to expand upontoday.
Petroleum Association of Japans Training Program started in 1991 with theimplementation of the Major Oil Spill Response Program, but, as in the case ofthe Exxon Valdez in the USA, the Nakhodka incident of 1997 in Mikuni, focused
Petroleum Association of Japan resources on training of personnel as well assome other points.

Present Situation
There are at present 11 Oil Spill Stockpile bases worldwide, 6 in Japan,
Yokkaichi, Mizushima, Niigata, Muroran, Okinawa, and Chiba and one each in
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Each base a selection ofgood quality equipment which is well proven in the field. There are no vessels
included at the stockpile bases but most of the maintenance contractors either
own vessels or have access to them.
The equipment belongs to Petroleum Association of Japan and the bases are
established in areas which are selected due to their proximity to risk of andincident. In Japan the bases are at Member companies premises and overseas
they are either at Japanese Oil Companies or with Logistics organizations which
can mobilize the equipment quickly. Each Stockpile base has an appointed
maintenance contractor whose role is to perform monthly maintenance on theequipment and make sure it is in first class condition and ready to go in the event
it is required for an incident.
The Major Oil Spill Response Programs aims are to lend out the equipment freeof charge to the parties concerned but Oil Spill Response Operations are notnormal or regular events and the equipment is both specialized and difficult tohandle if the operators are not trained well in advance. This point became clear
during the Nakhodka incident and proved it is vital to train as many people aspossible from the maintenance contractor, staff of member companies, POSCO
members and other concerned parties. It is with this history and experience thathas seen Petroleum Association of Japan training program develop to the level it
is today which I will now illustrate.

Training In Japan.
Basic Training.
The basic training of personnel is usually conducted at the member company
premises adjacent to the stockpile base in Japan. These training courses areusually run for 2 days and are a combination of hands on training with theequipment at the base, theory and video presentations. Petroleum Association ofJapan have produced a training video on each piece of equipment which they
have and these videos run approximately 20 minutes each. The videos havebeen meticulously produced with computer graphics, real time assembly andoperation of the equipment and are an excellent introduction for the beginner.

These beginner courses are normally run at each base once a year and theemphasis of this course is as an introduction to Oil Spill Response, theequipment capabilities and logistics necessary to support a recovery operation.
It is important to remember that while the maintenance contractors staff may stayin their positions for many years, the Oil Company staff are usually promoted andmoved every 2 or 3 years which ensures a constant flow of new students. This isa very positive point as not only do more people in the company become awareof oil spill activities and are able to play a role in any future event but their names
and level of experience are kept on a database in case they are needed in thefuture.

Intermediate Training.
These training exercises are the next step up from basic training and are again
conducted at the member company premises adjacent to the stockpile base inJapan. The courses are attended by Member Company and Contractor staff fromthe other bases and normally there is an attendance of about 25 to 30 persons
and the courses are held approximately 4 times per year. Considerable planning
goes into each course to select the useful scenario and mix of equipment to bedeployed.
Each Stockpile base is located in a different area of Japan and they all haveunique conditions. As an example Muroran in the north has very rocky shoreline
with severe winters and weather conditions, so we used these conditions topractice at sea recovery with larger systems.
On the other hand Okinawa in the south has beautiful beaches and hot weather
so this is an ideal place to concentrate on a beach exercise etc. Incidentally wewill be holding the next exercise in Okinawa next week after the symposium.
The duration of these intermediate Skill-up courses is 3 days and during thattime all of the staff have the chance to operate the equipment and learn about it’slimitations and their own. Half of the time is spent at sea on the vessels,
deploying and recovering the equipment, chas ing imaginary oil slicks, andtransferring the collected substances to the shore for storage. The other half ofthe time is either in the classroom planning the exercise or on the docksidelearning about the equipment and how to install it on the vessels. The emphasisof these courses is the effective installation of the equipment and it’s operation.
At this point I would like to point out that there are no full time Oil Spill Response
personnel appointed by Petroleum Association of Japan except managem ent
responsible for the implementation of the Major Oil Spill Response Program
based here in this building. All of the staff which have been trained or that areinvolved with the program have other full time
maintenance contractors.

jobs and this includes theComprehensive Training.
These courses are held once or twice a year in different parts of Japan andinvolve the large boom systems and oil skimming equipment. These courses areusually 3-4 days in duration and involve specially chartered vessels of 60 meters
and a full range of support vessels.
Petroleum Association of Japan has various large scale equipment which iscomplex to operate and these course are imperative should it becomes
necessary to mount a large scale clean up operation quickly and efficiently. By
simulating these events in the form of training we have overcome all of the major
obstacles in advance thus ensuring a smooth operation in the emergency.
Scenarios chosen for these exercises are both demanding and carefully
designed to give the staff the maximum exposure to the problems that may be
faced.
Vessel operators are trained to develop boom handling skills not normallynecessary in their everyday activities and also develop techniques to handle theheavy equipment and vast quantities of recovered substance.
We have actively encouraged independent thought at these exercises and many
new ideas come out of the debriefing meetings held at the end of each exercise.
These exercises are sometimes plagued with problems such as bad weather,equipment failure or operational problems. These hold ups are positive points as
we have to learn to overcome these in case of a real incident.

Training Overseas.
IMO Level 2 Training at SOSRC in Singapore.
Once a year a number of staff are sent to Singapore for IMO level 2 training
course. The course is conducted by a company called Singapore Oil Spill
Response Centre Pte.(SOSRC) who is also the maintenance contractor for thePetroleum Association of Japan stockpile bases in Singapore, Malaysia andIndonesia. The duration of the course is one week and are a mixture of practicaland theory training. These courses are particularly useful to the staff as they areconducted in a different country where additional thought provoking situations areencountered and different approaches to similar problems can be practiced.
During October 2000 Petroleum Association of Japan members staff wereattending this course in Singapore when the Natuna Sea incident happened andso the delegates got some good experience in cleaning real oil from the beach. Iwas told later by the course manager that this incident was not planned by themto make the course more realistic.

IMO Level 3 Training at EARL in Singapore.

Each year senior management from the Petroleum Association of Japan member
companies also attend this course which is run once a year. This course
highlights the national level problems caused by oil pollution of the marine
environment and the complex management decisions required during asignificant event. The duration of the course is 2 to 3 days and extremely useful
tool for future decision making in the event of a major incident.
Joint Training Exercises in Overseas Countries
In addition to the training courses carried out in Japan and Singapore there isalso a significant part of the training program devoted to training the overseas
base staff and exercises with other national organizations. Training has been
carried out as follows:
1996 at Arabian Oil Company in Ras Al Khafji , Saudi Arabia
1997 at Lamnalco in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
1999 PAJ took part in Exercise Ghazal in Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
1999 With Saudi Aramco at Ras Tanura Terminal in Saudi Aramco
2000 With PIMMAG in Port Dickson, Malaysia
2001 Planned with ADNOC Abu Dhabi ,United Arab Emirates
2001 Planned With PIMMAG in Labuan East, Malaysia
Future Plans
The last 2 exercises on the list had to be cancelled due to the events ofSeptember 11th but there are more training courses and exercises planned forthis year both in Japan and overseas. Many new staff will be introduced to thesubject of Oil Spill Response and a few will be promoted or retire but they will
never forget their exposure to Oil Spill Training, especially those staff involved inthe Nakhodka incident . Petroleum Association of Japan will also not forget thestaff it has trained because your names are on the database so don’t besurprised if some time in the future on a dark night in the middle of winter there
will be an oil spill and you will be asked to help.

Conclusion
Training of Petroleum Association of Japan members staff is a constant process
driven by the need to be in control when the large scale incident happens. There
are many issues to be taken into consideration for the future but the constant
movement of staff due to promotion, retirement and company changes coupledwith the evolutionary process of equipment development, new technologies andclean up practices, dictates the need for a modern, comprehensive andinternational training program. This has evolved in the case of Petroleum
Association of Japan thanks in a great part to the Ministry of Economy Trade andIndustry for their foresight and support.
Andrew M. Crawford