J a p a n C o o p e ra t i o n C e n t e r, P e t r o l e u m

NEWS
No.

108

2011 January

Connected by technology, person-to-personn Visit to JCCP by Sudan’s Newly Appointed Ambassadorn Keynote Speeches from the 28th JCCP International Symposium
n Progress Report of the Long-term Researcher Dispatch Program

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Table of Contents
TopicsSudan’s Newly Appointed Ambassador to Japan Visits JCCP............................................................................................. 3

Reference
Keynote Speeches from the 28th JCCP International Symposium (January 2010)............................................................. 5“Energy Security and Sustainability”<Mr. Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA)> ...................................................... 5“Management of Hydrocarbon Resources”<Mr. Mohammed A. Al-Omair, Executive Director, Refining and NGL Fractionation, Saudi Aramco>.................... 9
Activity Report from Researchers Participating in the Long-Term Researcher Dispatch Program................................... 12
Dr. Hideshi Hattori ................................................................................................................................................ 13
Dr. Katsuomi Takehira . ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Dr. Hidehiro Higashi .............................................................................................................................................. 18

Personnel Exchange Programs
For Greater Practicality of JCCP Courses ......................................................................................................................... 20
New JCCP Training Initiative: Implementation of a Long Course“Practical Training for Young Instrumentation and Control Engineers”.......................................................................... 23
Toward a Future Renewal of JCCP Courses . .................................................................................................................... 29
JCCP Regular Courses Completed September – November 2010 .................................................................................... 31
FY2011 JCCP Course Schedule.......................................................................................................................................... 33

Technical Cooperation
Fish Reef Completion Ceremony: Application Study of Sulfur Concrete Technology in UAE .......................................... 34
JCCP Launches New Project with Qatar Petroleum: New Project Signing Ceremony . .................................................... 36
Commencement of the TAKREER Research Centre Project, Phase II: Signing Ceremony Held in UAE............................. 38

Announcement
Personnel Changes ........................................................................................................................................................... 40

Topics

Sudan’s Newly Appointed
Ambassador to Japan Visits JCCP
On August 17, JCCP received a visit from Mr.
Abdon Terkoc Matuet, Ambassador of Sudan, who wasrecently assigned to the Embassy of Sudan in Japan.
Accompanied by Mr. Gaffar Somi, Counselor, the newly
appointed ambassador enjoyed a pleasant chat with Mr.
Masataka Sase, Executive Director, and Mr. Morihiro
Yoshida, Managing Director, of JCCP.

Background
JCCP implements training courses and technicalcooperation projects intended mainly for Middle East andGulf countries, which supply 90% of the crude oil thatJapan imports. In addition to these countries, however,
JCCP is also focusing on cultivating new cooperative
partnerships with countries that are expected to make asignificant contribution to the diversification of energy
sources and the expansion of independently developed
oil fields in the future. Toward this end, a comprehensive
technical cooperation survey was launched in FY2007,
and survey visits were made to Sudan in FY2008 and2009. Through these initiatives, JCCP opened relations
with Sudan National Petroleum Corporation (SUDAPET),
headquartered in northern Sudan, and with the Khartoum
Refinery, and implemented seminars on environmental
countermeasures, catalyst technology, and energy
conservation technologies in Sudan in FY2009 to promotemutual exchanges of information. Since FY2008, morethan ten Sudanese engineers have participated in JCCP
regular courses, and in July 2010, Mr. Masataka Sase,
Executive Director of JCCP, visited the country and heldpolicy dialogues with the heads of state-run oil companies
and top officials of Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
When JCCP made its first official visit to Sudan
in January 2009, JCCP members initially paid a callon the Sudanese Embassy in Japan to introduce andgain understanding of JCCP activities, and were able
to realize the visit thanks to the strong cooperationand support of the embassy in contacting and making
necessary adjustments with the Sudanese side. Since
then, JCCP has maintained a relationship with theembassy, keeping it informed of any advancements in
its relationship with relevant organizations in Sudan and

Newly appointed Ambassador of Sudan to Japan(second from left in front row)

obtaining its cooperation when needed. Based on thisrelationship, JCCP has received a number of important
visiting dignitaries from Sudan, including the recent visitby the new ambassador.

Overview of Sudan
Sudan has undergone a prolonged period of domestic
confusion caused by ethnic and religious conflict, andhas endured international isolation that continued forquite some time. However, after the United Nations
lifted its sanctions against the country in 2001, Sudan
focused its efforts on stabilizing its domestic situation
and returning to the international community. The
government signed a comprehensive peace agreementwith South Sudan in 2005, a peace agreement with the
Eastern Front in 2006, and created a unified government.
Today, widespread attention is being directed to the
independence referendum that Southern Sudan isscheduled to hold in January 2011 to decide whether or
not it should gain independence from Sudan.
Japan began importing crude oil from Sudan in 2001.
In 2008, imports from the country reached 5.7 million
kiloliters (2.1% share), and have boosted Sudan to
become one of Japan’s important crude oil suppliers.
Japan has not yet advanced into Sudan’s crude oil
production sector, but other Asian countries such as
China, Malaysia, and India have made investments that

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Topics •Inspection of the simulator facility at JCCP
(Ambassador Matuet at far left)

Meeting with Mr. Masataka Sase,
Executive Director of JCCP

have significantly promoted oil field development andcrude oil production in the country. Sudan experienced arapid increase in production since 2000, so that it attained
a production capacity of some 500,000 b/d in 2008.
Sudan principally produces a blend of crude oil called
Nile Blend, which is similar in property to Indonesia’s
Minas crude. Japan imports Nile Blend for refining
purposes and for burning as fuel by power companies.

new ambassador said that cooperation in the form oftechnologies and investment is strongly desired fromtechnologically and economically advanced countries
such as Japan, in order to place the country on the road tofuture development. The ambassador also explained that
Sudan has rich oil reserves, and oil production has been
increasing of late. With an abundance of other natural
resources as well, there are ample business opportunities
in Sudan for Japanese companies. Recognizing that theindustriousness and diligence of the Japanese people
have been one of the drivers of Japan’s development, heemphasized that personal and cultural exchanges between
the two countries would greatly benefit Sudan.
Mr. Sase made a reference to information he acquiredin his talks with the president of SUDAPET held in
Sudan this past July, regarding the company’s futureplans to build a new refinery. He stated that if anotherrefinery or other facility that requires specific technicalsupport is constructed, it is certainly possible for JCCP
to also expand its cooperation in the future.
After meeting with the JCCP directors, the ambassador
listened intently to descriptions of JCCP’s training andtechnical cooperation programs from relevant managers,
inspected the process and instrumentation simulation
facilities with interest, and once again expressed hisstrong expectations of JCCP’s support in hereafter
training Sudanese engineers and improving technologies
at its refineries. JCCP is presently advancing a planfor creating opportunities to visit and hold technicalexchanges with SUDAPET and the Khartoum Refineryto solve issues that they face. It also intends to continue
receiving Sudanese engineers to its regular courses inthe effort to maintain and strengthen its relationship with
Sudan that has just begun to take shape.

Oil Industry in Sudan
There are presently five refineries in Sudan witha combined refining capacity of 147,000 b/d. The
Khartoum Refinery is by far the largest, with a capacityof 100,000 b/d, followed by the Port Sudan Refinery, witha capacity of 25,000 b/d. The others are simple refineries
that have atmospheric distillation units only, and are the
El Obeid Refinery (10,000 b/d), the Shajirah Refinery(10,000 b/d), and the Ghabra Refinery (2,000 b/d).
The state-of-the-art Khartoum Refinery commenced
operations in 2000 with a capacity of 50,000 b/d, but
was later expanded to a capacity of 100,000 b/d in 2006.
Sudanese Petroleum Corporation (SPC) and China
International Sudan Refinery Ltd. (Chinese capital) eachhave a 50% share in it.
To further develop the country’s oil industry andrefineries, the Sudan is aggressively seeking the supportof companies and institutions inside and outside thecountry, including JCCP, in developing Sudaneseengineers and acquiring technical cooperation.

Ambassador Matuet’s Courtesy Call on JCCP
In his interview with Mr. Sase and Mr. Yoshida, the<by Kazuhisa Okumura, Technical Cooperation Dept.>• Topics •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Reference

The 28th JCCP International Symposium
Keynote Speeches
January 27 – 28, 2010

Keynote Speech 1

Energy Security andSustainability
Mr. Nobuo Tanaka
Executive Director,
International Energy Agency (IEA)

During the two and a half years since I was appointed
executive director of the IEA, the price of oil has
surged to $147 per barrel, dropped to the $30 level,
then rose once again to the $70 to $80 level. In the faceof such volatility, it is the IEA’s job to take appropriate
measures to stabilize the supply of energy. In the past,
we have therefore focused on securing stable supplies
by establishing a mechanism for stockpiling oil under acooperative international framework. However, in recent
years, addressing global environmental issues has also
become one of our important responsibilities.
Today, I would like to share with you some of mythoughts on such issues as the IEA’s forecast of oil
demand, impacts on the global environment, technicalissues, and investments for energy development.

to grow at an annual rate of 5%, supply reserves would
shrink further, and the demand-supply balance would
begin facing a tight situation around 2014 to 2015.

1. Oil demand forecast and the creeping
oil crisis2) Oil consumption forecast
In relation to the growing GDP, oil consumption
intensity has been improving at an annual rate of
2.1% during the past 20 years. The IEA expects thisimprovement to continue at a rate of about 2.4% hereafter,
but if it can be increased to 3.1%, it would be possible
to maintain the high 5% annual GDP growth rate while
also maintaining supply reserve stability. Essentially,
this means that promoting energy conservation will
significantly contribute to the stable supply of oil, as wellas to economic growth. The IEA, recognizing that savingenergy and using oil wisely is extremely important tosecuring stable oil supplies, is exploring various policies,
as will be discussed below.

1) Medium-term oil demand forecast
The IMF and other international institutions predictthat the global GDP growth rate will gradually recoverfrom the global economic crisis and return to aroundthe 5% level by 2014. Economic growth will lead to anincrease in demand for oil, but oil supplies will shrink
if nothing is done to strengthen supply capacity. In fact,
the world’s supply capacity must be strengthened to thepoint where it can respond to growing demand by rates
far exceeding the rate of depletion. If the economy were

3) Forecast of primary energy demand
If governments do not establish measures for energy
conservation (Reference Scenario), the IEA expects
primary energy consumption to increase along witheconomic growth, and by 2030 to reach levels 40%
higher than today. Fossil fuels, including oil, coal, andnatural gas, will account for a large portion of that
increase (Fig. 1). The IEA estimates that dependence
on fossil fuels will only increase under the Reference
Scenario, which is neither sustainable in terms of energy

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference •



OECD

Coal

Non-OECD

Oil
Gas
Nuclear
Hydro
Biomass

the investment required for oil development, a total ofsome $10 trillion is needed. Since global investment
in energy development currently equals approximately$26 trillion, this means that 40% of global investment
must be directed to natural gas and oil development. Thisis certainly a mind-boggling issue.
tm3

Other renewables
Fields yet to be
developed or
foundFig. 1: Change in primary energy demand(Reference Scenario, 2007-2030)

Currently
producing fields
Share from fields
not yet producing(right axis)

prices, stable supply, nor the global environment.
4) Forecast of oil production
Oil production at existing fields will continue todecline under the Reference Scenario. Meanwhile, oil
demand will be growing, so in order to respond to theincreasing demand, new oilfields need to be developed
while also supplementing waning production capacity.
According to the IEA’s projection, an additional
production capacity of approximately 63 million b/dwill be needed by 2030 if demand continues its present
trend. Sixty-three million barrels is an extremely large
amount, corresponding to six times Saudi Arabia’s
current daily production, and a sustained investment ofsome $5.9 trillion would be needed by 2030 to secure
this output (Fig. 2).

NGLs

Fig. 3: Impact of decline in world natural gas production(Reference Scenario)

6) Creeping oil crisis
The amount of import spending by oil- and natural gasconsuming countries is expected to grow considerably
in the future, given the rising prices and increases indemand for oil and gas. Debt burden from high importspending, which was around 1% of GDP until now, might
increase to around 2% to 3%. In 2008, when the priceof oil rose to $147/bbl, oil import spending increased
to around 2.3% of GDP. This situation had caused great
confusion. In the second oil crisis of 1979, it was 3.2%,
indicating that a 2% or 3% share of GDP translates to aburden comparable to an oil crisis (Fig. 4).

Crude oil — Fields yet to
be developed or foundCrude oil — Currently
producing fields

Fig. 2: Oil production (Reference Scenario)

5) Forecast for natural gas
As with oil, the increase in demand for natural
gas and the decline of its production must also be
offset by developing gas fields yet to be developedor discovered. Specifically, an additional capacity of
2.7 trillion m3/year is needed by 2030. This corresponds
to four times Russia’s current production capacity(Fig. 3). The development of natural gas requires aninvestment of $5.1 trillion by 2030, and combined with

• Reference •Billion dollars (2008)

Unconventional oil

1971 – 2008
2008 – 2030
% Share of GDP

European
Union

UnitedStates

China

Japan

India

ASEAN

Fig. 4: Average annual expenditure on net imports of oil & gas(Reference Scenario)

Significant economic growth in China, India, andother emerging countries is expected to bring a gradualbut major global impact on par with an oil crisis. Thisphenomenon is called “creeping oil crisis.” The Reference
Scenario, or the “business-as-usual” scenario, should
therefore be considered a scenario that must be avoided.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

2. Global environmental conservation andenergy supply
1) The IEA’s 450 Scenario
To prevent global temperature from rising more than
two degrees by the end of this century, the IEA is of theview that CO2 emissions must be curbed in each country
and atmospheric CO2 concentration limited to 450 ppm.
The impact this would have on energy demand andsupply is outlined in the IEA’s “450 Scenario.” While
the Reference Scenario has been labeled unsustainable,
the 450 Scenario examines what would occur if the
scenario were to be made sustainable in regard to theglobal environment.
2) Peak dependence on fossil fuels
The Reference Scenario sees the entire world
emitting 34.7 billion tons of CO2 in 2020. To match the
450 Scenario, emissions would need to be reduced by
3.8 billion tons. This could be achieved by employing
a combination of policy mechanisms. For example,
domestic policies and measures implemented in eachcountry have the potential to reduce about 1 billion
tons/year; the sectoral approach, which aims to achieve
the efficiency level of the country with the highest
efficiency in the steel, cement, and automobile sectors,
also has the potential to reduce about 1 billion tons;
and the cap-and-trade scheme of the OECD developed
countries could yield a further 1.8 billion tons. In thiscase, the OECD cap-and-trade scheme would require a
CO2 price of $50/ton. It needs to be that high to matchthe 450 Scenario. Furthermore, unless it is increased
to $110/ton in 2030, the Reference Scenario cannot be
brought to the level of the 450 Scenario.
In the 450 Scenario, demand for fossil fuels peaks
in 2020 (Fig. 5). This does not signify the supply-side
peak, but the peak at which the consumption of fossil

Fossil fuels
Zero-carbon
fuels
Share ofzero-carbon
fuels(right axis)

Fig. 5: Demand for fossil fuels peaks by 2020
(World primary energy demand by fuel in the 450 Scenario)

fuels must be regulated to protect the global environment.
However, fossil fuels will still account for 68% ofprimary energy sources. Therefore, even if the ambitious
450 Scenario were to be realized in 2030, dependency
on fossil fuels would necessarily continue, accompaniedby the need for massive investment.
3) End to the period of low energy prices
If the 450 Scenario were to be pursued, the crude oil
price in real terms would be around $90/bbl, whereas
it would be around $110/bbl in the Reference Scenario.
When taking inflation into consideration, the IEA
estimates that nominal value would reach $200/bbl in the
Reference Scenario, and up to $150/bbl even in the 450
Scenario. Adding to that the price of CO2, the nominal
price in the 450 Scenario would be something close to
the Reference Scenario. The period of low energy prices
has continued for a long time, but the IEA warns that, forall practical purposes, this period should be considered
to have come to an end. The prerequisite in the coming
period is to build a business model from the perspectiveof a period of high oil prices, and to consider the role ofgovernmental policies.
In the 450 Scenario, oil demand is estimated at
90 million b/d, and is 16 million b/d lower than the
Reference Scenario, but since production capacities in
non-OPEC countries will be declining, OPEC countries
must increase production by 14 million b/d comparedto their production levels today. Thus, investment fordevelopment of oil resources in OPEC will continue tobe extremely important in the future.
4) Cooperation between oil-producing andconsuming countries
OPEC production will still see an increase in the 450
Scenario, and oil prices will continue to rise, so OPEC
will gain much higher revenues than in the past. The IEA
forecasts that, if investment based on these revenues is put
to effective use, it would be possible to simultaneously
protect the global environment, promote oil development,
and maintain oil demand and supply in reasonably goodbalance. This win-win situation, the IEA believes, could
presumably be realized through cooperation between
oil-producing and consuming countries.
5) CO2 emission abatement in non-OECD countries
and international cooperation
The 450 Scenario assumes it would be most effective
to reduce CO 2 emissions primarily in non-OECD

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference •countries. When considering that economic growth isaround 1.8% in OECD countries, 4.6% in non-OECD
countries, and 3.1% on average, global emission
abatement cannot be achieved unless emissions are
reduced in non-OECD countries, where economic
growth rates are extremely high. However, whether theOECD or non-OECD countries should incur the cost is
a separate issue.
Various technologies would be employed to achieve
the necessary level CO 2 emission abatement. For
example, a 57% abatement could be achieved by energy
conservation technologies, 23% by the utilization ofrenewable energies, 10% by nuclear power generation,and the remaining 10% by the CCS technology. This graphshows that CO2 emission abatement cannot be achieved
unless all possible technologies are utilized (Fig. 6).

Reference Scenario

World abatement bytechnology

Efficiency

450 Scenario

Renewables
and biofuels
Nuclear CCS

Fig. 6: World abatement of energy-related CO2 emission(450 Scenario)

6) Significance of technology development andinternational cooperation
The IEA considers it most important to solve global
environmental issues through technology development.
In reference to technologies that are effective in reducing
CO2, including carbon capture and storage (CCS),

advanced vehicles, wind power, solar photovoltaic,
concentrated solar power, and other diverse technologies,
the IEA is examining potential future issues and thetypes of international cooperation that are necessary
for technology development, and creating roadmaps tothe future.
If technology development is not achieved as planned,
a delay of one year is estimated to cost $500 billion. Last
year, the leaders of concerned countries assembled in
Copenhagen and reached an agreement after intensive
discussions, but it may not have provided sufficientincentive to stimulate greater investment.

3. Toward global energy supply and global
environmental conservation
Japan’s CO2 abatement potential is not necessarily
large, but having announced the largest abatement target
in the world of 25%, it is expected to play an importantrole in leading the world and setting an example by its
contribution to global abatement. The IEA will also
contribute in diverse ways to both stabilizing global
energy supply and addressing global environmental
issues, by presenting technical roadmaps such as thosementioned above and forecasts in World Energy Outlook
and other publications.
Thank you very much for the opportunity today topresent to you the various results of the IEA’s studies.
It is our responsibility to continue to create new models
in cooperation with companies in the oil industry andend-users of oil. As my final message to you, I ask thatyou take advantage of the IEA in your future efforts. I
hope we may continue to develop our relationship ofmutual cooperation. Thank you very much.

* This transcript has been produced by the JCCP Secretariat based on the speech given at the 28th JCCP International Symposium(January 27, 2010).
* The responsibility for the wording of this transcript lies with the JCCP Secretariat.

• Reference •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Keynote Speech 2

Management ofHydrocarbon Resources
Mr. Mohammed A. Al-Omair
Executive Director, Refining and
NGL Fractionation, Saudi Aramco

1. Relationship between Saudi Arabia andAsia
We at Saudi Aramco highly value our longstanding
and mutually beneficial relations with Japan. As acompany deeply involved in the Japanese economy asa major supplier, refiner and marketer of petroleum andpetroleum products, Saudi Aramco appreciates all that
we share from Japan’s distinctive approach, not only toeconomic development, but to human development in
the fullest sense. This distinguished and unique center(JCCP) plays an important role in this regard, and instrengthening cooperation and relations in the very
important petroleum business.
Today, Saudi Aramco is an investor in the Japanesepetroleum sector, and Japan is an investor in the Saudi
petroleum sector. Yet it is not only in the area of
petroleum that our relations with Japan are clear. We
enjoy many fruitful exchanges of culture, commerce
and technology.
When it comes to energy trade relations, Asia
accounts for more than half of our exports of crudeoil, refined products and natural gas liquids. Looking
ahead, Asia’s demand is projected to be met mainly fromsupplies from Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states.
More broadly, Asia is Saudi Arabia’s largest trade partner
among continents, with a 45% share of our overall trade.

PetroRabigh Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Complex(photo supplied by Saudi Aramco)

At the same time, Saudi Arabia is Asia’s principal trading
partner in the Middle East. Such a relationship is only
natural.
The investment relationship is just as important.
Today, our largest refining assets outside of Saudi Arabia
are in Asia, with a total equity refining capacity of over
1.3 million barrels per day in Japan, China and South
Korea. Japanese companies are also investing in Saudi
Arabia. One of the largest refining and petrochemicalcomplexes in Saudi Arabia, PetroRabigh Company,
commissioned last year, is a joint venture that we are
extremely proud of with Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical.

2. Investment in the Oil Upstream Sector
Given our longstanding relationship, Saudi Aramco
understands Japan’s emphasis on achieving long-term
stable supplies of energy. In fact, as a custodian of someof the world’s largest hydrocarbon reservoirs, we have avested interest in the stability and longevity of petroleum
as a reliable source of energy. For this reason, Saudi
Aramco places top priority and focus on the responsible
management of hydrocarbon resources.
The past few years have been critical for theenergy markets and their stakeholders. The world has
experienced the deepest economic downturn in morethan 70 years, and is only just starting to show somepositive signs of economic recovery. We hope that thepositive economic trends of the past few months are
sustainable.
Fueling economic recovery and prosperity requires
significant investments all along the oil and gas value
chain and in all regions, especially Asia and the Middle
East. Saudi Arabia alone has been executing investment
plans totaling more than $100 billion, involving
maintaining and increasing oil and gas production
capacities, as well as increasing and upgrading refining

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference •and processing facilities, both in and out of Saudi
Arabia.
We have recently achieved a crude oil production
capacity increase to 12 million barrels per day, whichis equivalent to nearly 15% of total global demand.
This was achieved by putting on line one of the largest
production increments ever, the 1.2 million barrels per
day Khurais field complex. This new complex is just oneof our recent mega-projects.

association to petrochemical complexes.
Our downstream involvement is not only in
manufacutring, but also includes a cross-country productdistribution network and air fueling responsibilities in
Saudi Arabia, as well as a large world-class fleet ofmarine vessels under the Vela Corporation.
These investments in the upstream and downstream,
as well as our international investments in joint venturerefineries in Japan, China, South Korea and the UnitedStates highlight our overall endeavor towards global
market stability, continuity and reliability. Our special
commitment to the Asian market is a cornerstone of thisendeavor. These investments are also complemented
by our strategic commitment to reliability throughoperational excellence in everything we do.

Khurais Oil Field(photo supplied by Saudi Aramco)

These new projects are intended to enable us tomaintain a strong spare capacity to allow us to react
almost immediately in the event of urgent energy demandrequirements or supply disruptions. We have constantly
demonstrated our capabilities in this regard and today,
we are in an even stronger position to do so, thanks toall of our investments, supported by one of the mosttechnologically advanced exploration and drilling teamsin the world.
Having achieved our crude oil production increase,
we also are working to expand our gas production andprocessing capacities by 40%, which is mainly to fuelthe local needs for electricity generation, desalination
plants, petrochemicals and other industries.

3. Investment in the Oil Downstream
SectorOf course, Saudi Aramco’s role is much more thanoil and gas production. We are also a prominent player
in the downstream sector, with seven refineries in Saudi
Arabia, and several more across the world, including
Japan. We are executing plans to build two new refineriesin Saudi Arabia, in partnerships with international oil
industry, with a total capacity of 800 thousand barrels
per day. We are also upgrading existing refineries with
10 • Reference •Vela Corporation’s state-of-the-art tanker (Saiph Star)(photo supplied by Saudi Aramco)

4. Initiatives for Stable Oil Supply
On average, Saudi Aramco identifies new provenreserves each year at least equivalent to the amount of
crude oil produced, a number that currently exceeds 3billion barrels per year. We expect to be able to maintainthis pattern for several decades, even with projected
increases in demand and production.
Sustaining this level of achievement requires constantinvestment in new and promising technologies. We
operate in an environment of smart wells employing
nanotechnology for sensing, and of remote geo-steeringthat can navigate drill bits thousands of meters below
the earth’s surface from control centers located hundredsof kilometers from the wellhead. Globally, seismic
technology and other sophisticated imaging and reservoir
modeling technologies have dramatically increased
success in finding oil and gas fields and help the industry
maximize recovery levels from reservoirs.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

5. Training Human Resources for the
FutureCentral to Saudi Aramco’s success as an energy
producer is human talent. For all of the wonders oftechnology, we recognize that all technologies are simply
extensions of human ingenuity. We attach the utmost
importance to our investment in training and careerdevelopment for our tens of thousands of employees.
Developing our people was, and continues to be, one of
the key success factors of our company.
JCCP has been for years a solid provider of learning
resources for our employees, and we will be continuing
to rely on your own level of excellence in helping us toenhance the training and knowledge of our young andmotivated employees well into the future.

KAUST students(photo supplied by Saudi Aramco)

6. Future Energy Supply
Managing the hydrocarbon resources that we areso fortunate to have in our country is not only about
producing, manufacturing and distributing; that aspect
is required, but is relatively straightfoward. At Saudi
Aramco, we also place a high and equal value on
protecting the environment, health and safety of ouremployees and surrounding communities.
In this regard, we share Japan’s emphasis, and that of
the entire world, on achieving ever more efficient uses ofenergy. The world’s leading economies, including Japan,
are already more energy efficient than at any time inhistory. Today, the world consumes 20% less energy per$1,000 GDP as it did back in 1990. For our part, Saudi
Aramco is partnering with institutions throughout theworld to help optimize energy efficiency.
For example, we are partnering with our affiliate herein Japan to develop pilot plants for solar-power electricity
generation in Saudi Arabia. If anyone wonders why, it
is because Saudi Arabia has not only the world’s largest
petroleum reserves, but also an abundance of the basic
requirements for solar energy power generation. We haveplenty of sunshine as well as pure-silica sand to use as
raw material for solar panels.
However, while there are worthy aspirations for thedevelopment of renewable and alternative sources ofenergy in the future, sound projections indicate thatJapan, like other leading nations, will continue to rely
upon petroleum for decades to come. But as realists,
we need to keep sight of the fact that renewable energy
sources are projected to remain complementary to ourenergy needs for at least the next two decades.
As a result, for the well-being of the people on thisplanet who will need continued access to fossil energy,both energy producers and consumers will need to workas partners to make petroleum energy more efficient andfriendly to the environment. We have made improving
the quality of the transportation fuels to reduce theirenvironmental impact a key focus area. We have been
investing heavily in reducing the content of sulfur,
benzene and aromatics in transportation fuels with theintent of reducing the company’s environmental footprint.
We are also investing in research and development efforts
in the areas of carbon management, whole crude oil
desulfurization, and fuel reformulation.
Finally, our emphasis on safety continues to provide
demonstrated results as a world-class leader amongst ourpeers in the industry. Although we have been recognizedmany times for our safety performance, we will not besatisfied until we can sustainably achieve our goal ofzero incidents.
We recognize that energy enables economic andsocial progress like no other commodity. As the largest
producer with the largest reserves in the world, Saudi
Aramco uniquely contributes to energy security for Japanand the entire global market.
Arigato gozai-mashita.

* This transcript has been produced by the JCCP Secretariat based on the speech given at the 28th JCCP International Symposium(January 27, 2010).
* The responsibility for the wording of this transcript lies with the JCCP Secretariat.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference • 11

Reference

Activity Reportfrom Researchers Participating in theLong-Term Researcher Dispatch Program
Introduction

FY2010 Researchers

Over the years, JCCP has developed cooperative
relationships with major counterpart institutions suchas King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals(KFUPM) and Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research(KISR) through international joint research programsand technical cooperation projects. To further strengthen
and improve these relationships, JCCP sends veteranJapanese researchers to counterpart institutions longterm to provide research support and engage in direct
exchanges with researchers at those institutions under
the Long-term Researcher Dispatch Program.
JCCP has dispatched three honorary university
professors and a corporate researcher during the three
years from FY2007 to FY2009. They mainly help their
host institution develop research personnel and provide
detailed research assistance in response to its needs.
Three researchers have been dispatched in FY2010.
These researchers were asked to share some of the local
information they have obtained by staying long term in
the country of their host institution and interacting withlocal researchers, and to also introduce their researchsupport activities.

n Dr. Hideshi Hattori, Professor Emeritus,

Briefing session at JCCP, July 14, 201012 • Reference •Hokkaido University(1) Host institution:
Center of Refining and Petrochemicals (CRP),
Research Institute (RI), King Fahd University ofPetroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)(2) Term of dispatch:
Approxmately three months each year since FY2007(this year’s schedule is being planned)(3) Research field:
Application of solid acid catalyst and solid basecatalyst to oil refining and petrochemistryn Dr. Katsuomi Takehira, Professor Emeritus,
Hiroshima University(1) Host institution:
Center of Refining and Petrochemicals (CRP),
Research Institute (RI), King Fahd University ofPetroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)(2) Term of dispatch:
Approximately three months each year since FY2009(this year’s schedule is being planned)(3) Research field:
Research of catalysts for petrochemical feedstock
production by ethylbenzene dehydrogenationn Dr. Hidehiro Higashi(1) Host institution:
Petroleum Refining Department, Petroleum
Research and Studies Center (PRSC), Kuwait
Institute for Scientific Research (KISR)(2) Term of dispatch:
Approximately three months each year since FY2007(this year’s schedule is being planned)(3) Research field:
R&D on enhancement of practical evaluation
performance of pilot plant tests and improvement ofrefinery operations

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

1．Research Activities at KFUPM in Saudi Arabia
Dr. Hideshi Hattori, Professor Emeritus, Hokkaido University

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals(KFUPM) is the leading university for science andtechnology in Saudi Arabia. It is located on a small,rocky hill that sits on a massive oil field discovered in1938 in Dammam Dome and was previously owned by
the national oil company Saudi Aramco. In addition
to numerous departments, the university also has aprominent Research Institute. Headed by Dr. Sahel
N. Abduljauwad, Vice Rector for Applied Research,
the Research Institute is composed of six research
centers run by 140 staff members. The six centers
are: (1) Communication & IT (CCIT); (2) Economics& Management (CEMS); (3) Environment & Water(CEW); (4) Engineering Research (CER); (5) Petroleum& Minerals (CPM); and (6) Refining & Petrochemicals(CRP).
The Center of Refining & Petrochemicals (CRP)
has 24 staff members, and belongs to the Center ofResearch Excellence (CoRE) in Petroleum Refining &Petrochemicals. The CoRE program was establishedin 2007 to promote highly focused interdisciplinary
research. It is a cross-sector research group composedof the university’s departments of chemistry andchemical engineering, plus a number of outside research
institutions (both national and international).
As a selected member of JCCP’s Long-term
Researcher Dispatch Program, I visited Saudi Arabia
for three months each year (one month’s stay × 3) from

FY2007 to FY2009. I understood that my mission was“to strengthen our mutual research foundation andpromote friendly relations between Japan and Saudi
Arabia by providing research guidance and deepening
ties between our two countries,” and have worked towardachieving this goal.
The main focus of my activities was to promote studies
of solid acid and solid base catalysis and to initiate newresearch projects. In my first year, I submitted several
research plans to KFUPM and discussed projects thatwould be applicable for implementation with KFUPM.
One of the projects I proposed, on alkane isomerization
over tungstated zirconia modified by platinum catalyst,
was taken up as a theme for a student’s master’s thesis.
The student who was placed under my charge was an
excellent student, who completed his thesis in two years
and received his degree in the beginning of 2009.
To acquire research subsidies needed to pursue thisresearch project, we applied to the Ministry of Higher
Education for a research grant. The following year, in
2008, our application was accepted, and we received a
24-month research grant. The objective of our research
was to develop a catalyst that would deliver highperformance in the skeletal isomerization of alkanes
higher than C6. This skeletal isomerization is a key
to producing high-octane, high-quality gasoline that
contains only small amounts of aromatic compounds,
and is a theme related to technologies that are certain

The center of KFUPM, sitting atop a rocky hill(from the rooftop of the RI building)

The Research Institute, a prominent building on campus
The photo insert is of Dr. Sahel N. Abduljauwad, Vice Rector
for Applied Research

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference • 13

to become necessary in the near future, as increasingly
stringent global environmental regulations require
gasoline to have an ever lower content of aromaticcompounds. The research also corresponds to the flowof Saudization, the general policy of implementing
production activities by the hands of Saudi Arabians asmuch as possible.
In FY2009, my third year at KFUPM, I continued
to assist in the development and continuation of theresearch project that was approved by the Ministry ofHigher Education. I also provided advice for the projects
that are being carried out or planned by CRP, as well as
for the formulation of a new plan for a project on solidbase catalysis.
The thesis written by the master’s degree student was
published as two separate papers in the international
journal, Applied Catalysis A: General, and thesubsequent research that was conducted in FY2009 waspresented at the TOCAT6/APCAT5 Conference heldin Sapporo in July 2010 as the only oral presentationfrom Saudi Arabia. A full paper of the presentation isscheduled to be included in a special issue of Catalysis
Today dedicated to TOCAT6.
KFUPM has been receiving technical assistance andcooperation from JCCP (or PEC) since around 1990,
and has implemented numerous joint studies with JCCP
over many years. It also has an ongoing relationshipwith JCCP in sponsoring research seminars on catalyst
technologies and in sending participants to JCCP
courses in Japan, and has strengthened and advanced
the foundation of its research centers through thesecooperation schemes. As a university-affiliated research
center, CRP should perhaps focus on fulfilling its originalrole of strengthening basic research capacities. In thisregard, I feel that more emphasis should hereafter beplaced on basic research, in relation to CRP’s future
management policy.

14 • Reference •The master’s degree student who was in the charge ofDr. Hattori and the research scientist who provided his
assistance in conducting experiments

Speaking of basic research, King Abdullah Universityof Science and Technology (KAUST) opened last year
and is gathering human resources in basic research
fields from all over the world. Its research plan shows anextensive list of themes related to leading-edge scientifictechnologies. KFUPM is also expected to contributeto technical advancement in its specific research field.
JCCP’s cooperation is highly evaluated at present, but
university needs constantly change. To continue to beheld in high regard in the future, I believe that JCCP andKFUPM should thoroughly discuss the future visionof the university at the global level before deciding on
specific cooperation and assistance measures.
The weather in Saudi Arabia has been pleasant,perhaps because I have been visiting the country inmoderate seasons. At KFUPM, I live in an on-campus
guesthouse, which occupies a section of a residential areafor university faculty. As the area is safe and comfortable,
I have never worried about physical danger. The adhan,or ritual call to prayer that is heard from the mosque fivetimes a day, has become a part of my daily rhythm.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

2．Research Assistance at KFUPM in Saudi Arabia
Dr. Katsuomi Takehira, Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima University

1. Introduction
I have spent three occasions in FY2009 and FY2010
providing R&D assistance on petrochemical feedstock
production catalysts at the Center of Research Excellencein Petroleum Refining and Petrochemicals in King Fahd
University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) located in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. My first stay was from October
16 to November 20, 2009; the second was from January 6
to February 5, 2010; and the third was from February 19
to March 10, 2010. While JCCP’s Long-term Researcher
Dispatch Program began in FY2007, my participationin the program has been from FY2009.

2. Research ThemeThe focus of my research in FY2009 was specificallyplaced on the development of a styrene production
catalyst by ethylbenzene dehydrogenation. This project
was sponsored and funded by King Abdullah Universityof Science and Technology (KAUST), a new research
institution established last year on the coast of the Red
Sea in Jeddah, and was implemented at KFUPM as
one of several projects adopted by KAUST in various
fields including the catalyst development field. For thisreason, I belong to the KAUST Center in Development
at KFUPM. In FY2009, I also received a request from
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for thedevelopment of a propylene production catalyst by
propane dehydrogenation. In January 2010, I proposeda project for development of a new hydrotalcite catalyst,
but received a message in June that it will not be
implemented, due to the tight supply of raw propane
in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, as worldwide demandfor propylene production has been growing in recent
years, KFUPM has thereafter commenced a research anddevelopment project with SABIC to address propylene
production by catalytic cracking of naphtha.

3. Research Progress
With respect to the development of a styrene
production catalyst by ethylbenzene dehydrogenation,
I proposed to develop an oxidative dehydrogenation
catalyst using air or carbon dioxide as a soft oxidant, asshown in Fig. 1. My plan was to produce a highly dispersed
iron oxide catalyst derived from Mg-Al hydrotalcite
and conduct an activity test using a fixed-bed gas flow
reactor, at KFUPM. For catalyst characterization, I
requested KFUPM to undertake the atomic absorption
analysis and differential thermogravimetric analysis(Mr. A. Khurshid); the analysis of X-ray diffraction, N2
absorption, and CO2-TPD to Hiroshima University (Prof.
T. Sano); Mössbauer absorption analysis to the Universityof Tokyo (Prof. K. Nomura); and TPR and XPS analyses
to Ehime University (Prof. H. Yahiro). I intended toprepare different types of catalysts and evaluate their

Conventional method
With Mr. A. Khurshid in front of the styrene production
reactor

New method

Fig. 1: New styrene production method

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference • 15

activities, but lacked the necessary manpower andreactor environment at KFUPM. Therefore, I shared
the reactor that Prof. H. Hattori (KFUPM) was using in
his research on “alkane isomerization over tungstatedzirconia modified by platinum catalyst,” and had Dr. R.
Jermy, a post-doctoral researcher, perform the activity
test. Thereafter, a third-year undergraduate student andlater a master’s course student (Mr. A. Al-Ali and Mr.
L. Atanda) offered to help prepare the catalysts, and theresearch gradually began to make progress.

Fig. 2: Hydrotalcite

possible with the reactor we used, we could not examineoxidative dehydrogenation reaction using air or carbon
dioxide, but we examined the simple dehydrogenation
activity of ethylbenzene by preparing Mg/Fe/Al oxide
catalysts with a part of the Fe replaced with Cu, Zn, Cr,
Mn, Co, or Ni. Because iron catalysts were used in thepresence of hydrogen, the activity test was conductedunder the inert gas atmosphere of He and not N2, toavoid producing NH3. Among the metal species added,
Co displayed the best effect as an additive, followedby Ni, while the other metals showed negative effects(Fig. 3). Then, we tried to clarify the factors improving
catalytic activity by Co addition in comparison withthe effect of Ni. As the result, the high activity of the
Mg3Fe0.25Co0.25Al0.5 catalyst seemed to be promoted by
the reduction-oxidation between Fe3+ and Fe2+ and by
the stabilization of Fe3+/Fe2+ by the formation of Fe-Co
binary system. Moreover, a part of Mg2+ in Mg3Fe0.5Al0.5
mixed oxide was replaced with Zn2+ to test the effectof MgO as the support. We found that catalyst activity
declines with an increase in Zn replacement (Fig. 4). It
was concluded that the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene
was initiated by the β-H+ abstraction to form an electronrich intermediate on Mg2+O2- basic sites, followed by
α-H- abstraction on Fe3+ acid sites to produce styrene.
As previously mentioned, this research was pursued
as a project commissioned by KAUST, a new research
university which has just recently opened. KFUPM
has also begun to show strong interest in our academic
research and new findings in recent years. Based on thissituation, we compiled and contributed the results we

Fig. 3: Mg3Fe0.25Me0.25Al0.5 catalyst activity

Fig. 4: Mg3-xZnxFe0.5Al0.5 catalyst activity

4. Research Results
It has already been confirmed that Mg/Fe/Al oxide
catalysts derived from a hydrotalcite precursor (Fig.
2) display high activity.1) Since gas analysis was not

16 • Reference •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

obtained in the following three papers: (1) “Ethylbenzene
dehydrogenation over binary FeO x-MeOy/Mg(Al)O
catalysts derived from hydrotalcites”; (2) “Ethylbenzene
dehydrogenation over FeOx/(Mg,Zn)(Al)O catalysts
derived from hydrotalcites: Role of MgO as basic
sites”; and (3) “Ethylbenzene dehydrogenation over
Mg3Fe0.5-xCoxAl0.5 catalysts derived from hydrotalcites:
Comparison with Mg3Fe0.5-yNiyAl0.5 catalysts.”

5. Research Summary
The research progressed smoothly in FY2009, andthe KFUPM researchers and I were able to compile
our results in three papers, as mentioned above, tobe submitted to international journals under our joint
names. We intend to continue with the research, andto apply ourselves to the development of oxidative
dehydrogenation catalysts. The results we have achieved
so far will be presented at the KCC Symposium on
Catalysis on 7-9 December 2010 by Dr. Sulaiman S. AlKhattaf, Director of the KFUPM Center of Refining &Petrochemicals and leader of this project. An additional
piece of information worthy of note in regard to thisresearch is that the Mg-Al hydrotalcite that we usedin preparing our catalysts is garnering attention for its
possible application to the PSA separation of CO2. In
fact, KFUPM has just recently received an inquiry about
it from Saudi Aramco. The widespread applicationof the hydrotalcite not only to catalysts, but also toseparators and diverse other purposes, can be expectedin the future.
I received support from many people in implementing
my one-year research project at KFUPM. With thecooperation of the people at KFUPM, we were able tocompile the results of our research in the three papers
mentioned above in a relatively short period of time.
Many researchers at KFUPM’s research center havebeen to Japan as participants of training programs, andare friendly and cooperative with Japanese people on
the whole. Even aside from the research, I have enjoyedspending time with them. To enhance the potential of
the research center even more in the future, it is perhaps
necessary to install a new reactor that is compact enoughto ensure mobility, and to maximize the operations ofvarious analysis equipment for catalyst characterization.
KFUPM prides itself on its long history, but it is at atime when it needs to further improve its standing asa university originally devoted to basic research areas,
particularly given the opening last year of KAUST, a new
global-scale graduate university. In this regard as well,it seems that publishing research results in international
academic journals is becoming increasingly important.
Reference
1) Y. Ohishi, T. Kawabata, T. Shishido, K. Takaki, Q. Zhang, Y.
Wang, K. Nomura, and K. Takehira, Appl. Catal. A: General 288(2005) 220-231.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference • 17

3. Research Assistance at KISR in Kuwait
Dr. Hidehiro Higashi
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR)
was my host institution under the JCCP Long-term
Researcher Dispatch Program. It was establishedapproximately 40 years ago, and is the only publicresearch institution in Kuwait. KISR’s precursor wasa research center founded by Arabian Oil Company
Limited, which had a concession agreement to develop
the Khafji Oil Field. The company later donated theresearch center to the Kuwaiti government, where it
was placed under the control of the Ministry of Higher
Education and given a greater scope of research andpersonnel. Today, it is headed by Dr. Naji Mohamed
Al-Mutairi, Director General, and is headquartered in
Al-Shuwaik, Kuwait City. Studies in areas other thanpetroleum, which are primarily related to environmental
issues, are based in the headquarters, and studies related
to petroleum are conducted at the Petroleum Research &Studies Center (PRSC) in Ahmadi, under the directorshipof Dr. Abdulhameed A. Al-Hashem. With approximately
800 researchers under its wing at present, 65 to 70% ofwhom have an academic degree, KISR is one of the mostrespected scientific institutes in the Middle East. The
Kuwaiti government places large expectations on KISR,
and is presently considering making further expansions.
From 2009 to the present, I have made three brief stays
at PRSC, each about one month long, to provide researchguidance on hydrotreating catalysts mainly to Dr.
Hamza Albazzaz, Senior Researcher, under the generalsupervision of Dr. Meena Marafi, Manager. I have also

provided research guidance on the characterization ofaspahltene contained in residual oil (generally defined
as an n-heptane insoluble matter; the main material used
to make road-pavement asphalt), which has never been
the focus of studies in this area before, and on its impact
on catalytic reactions.
Kuwait owns and operates a national oil company
called Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) under the
direct management of the Ministry of Energy. KPC has
ten affiliated companies (wholly owned subsidiaries)
under its umbrella, to attend to all aspects of the oil
business, including the exploration, development,
production, refining, shipment, marketing, and overseas
investment of crude oil and natural gas. Kuwait National
Petroleum Company (KNPC) is one of KPC’s subsidiaries
specializing in oil refining. KNPC currently operates
three refineries with a combined refining capacity of
900,000 b/d: the Mina Al-Ahmad Refinery (MAA), Mina
Abdullah Refinery (MAB) and Shuaiba Refinery. It also
has a plan to construct a fourth refinery with a capacity of
600,000 b/d, although the plan has been suspended for thetime being due to various circumstances. Because KNPC
does not have a research center, studies and assessments
requested by its refineries are outsourced to PRSC at cost.
To PRSC, therefore, KNPC is a customer who provides
research funds. Kuwait produces mainly heavy crudeoil, and reduced crude, which is used as fuel, contains
as much as 4% sulfur. If this reduced crude is burned as
it is and used to generate electricity, large amounts ofInspection of research facilities at KISR (Sept. 2007)

With hydroplant engineers and operator

18 • Reference •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

SOx would be released into the atmosphere as a sourceof air pollution. For this reason, KNPC has a number of
direct desulfurization units to remove the sulfur content
of reduced crude using catalysts. They include two UOP
units with two trains, a Chevron unit with two trains,
and a UOP unit with one train, which provide a total
processing capacity of 300,000 b/d. KNPC is the only
refinery in the world heavily equipped with so many
direct desulfurization units. It is worth noting that the
fixed-bed direct desulfurization unit was demonstrated
for the first time in the world approximately 40 years
ago in Japan. The many types of direct desulfurization
units that have been constructed and exist throughout theworld today have followed on the heels of this successful
demonstration. Over many years, Japan has also
continued to research and improve hydrodesulfurization
catalysts for use in desulfurization units, and has provided
technical support for development of the catalyst andoperational technologies of the unit to overseas oilproducing countries with JCCP’s cooperation.
Precisely because KNPC operates so many direct
desulfurization units, it is strongly seeking to optimize
its catalyst selection technology for those units and tofurther increase operational efficiency. KNPC seeks theexpertise of KISR-PRSC in many issues.
It is understood that KISR has consistently andaccurately addressed KNPC’s needs for technical supportand research and development through the years. In
the future, it will probably be expected to improve theevaluation precision of practical catalyst performanceand to cultivate even more advanced catalyst selection
technology as well as other development technologies.
Under this Long-term Researcher Dispatch Program, I
hope to apply my many years of experience in the catalyst
R&D field to providing cooperation and assistance to
KISR in response to such new needs.
Within the cooperative research in the refining field,
Dr. Hamza Albazzaz and I proposed to implement a
research project under a joint framework of KNPC,KISR-PRSC, and the licensor who designed the units.
Spanning a period of three years, the project would
aim to analyze and improve the operation of refinery
units by creating a cold flow reactor model that is large
enough to observe the flow of catalysts, gas, and oil
inside the reactor, and also to examine the impacts ofasphaltene on catalyst activity by constructing a pilot
unit for high-pressure testing which could also be used
for catalyst evaluation. The cost of implementing theWith Dr. Hamza Albazzaz, Senior Researcher

project was proposed to be borne by KNPC and KPC
as the project beneficiaries. As a result, KPC/KNPC
gave their approval, and agreed to launch the project in
FY2010. I believe that this three-party project would
improve relationships between KNPC and KISR-PRSC
and would create a golden opportunity for KISR-PRSC
researchers to familiarize themselves with actual
units. PRSC’s Dr. Meena Marafi appointed Dr. Hamza
Albazzaz as project leader, but I will also be providing
my full support, as it is an important and large-scale
project.
Recently, there has been another new development.
That is, it has been decided that KPC/KNPC will launch
its own research center this coming spring. The newresearch center is likely to advance along the path ofoil-related studies and applied research. If it does, it
may become the same as PRSC, which also engages in
oil-related studies, but I understand that KISR has plansto shift its focus to basic research to avoid the overlap.
In the case where KISR does choose to pursue basic
research, I am thinking to provide assistance to makecertain that everyone fully understands the importance ofcollecting basic data steadily over time. In considerationof all the above, JCCP can probably expect to receive
requests for cooperation from both the new KPC/KNPC
research center and from KISR, and may need to further
extend its technical cooperation program to adequately
respond to their needs.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Reference • 19

Personnel
Exchange

For Greater Practicality of JCCP Courses
JCCP courses provide practical training with thecooperation of oil companies and other JCCP member
companies, and are widely acknowledged in oilproducing countries, as can be seen by the fact thattwice as many applications as openings are received
for each course.
However, changes are taking place in oil industries
throughout the world, including a trend toward theprivatization of national oil companies, and the Middle
East countries in particular have gradually begun to voice
their needs for even more practical JCCP courses as they
pursue greater efficiency and safety in oil operations.
In response to these mounting expectations, we are
currently exploring measures toward strengthening thepractical nature of JCCP courses, as outlined below.

1. Review of Present SituationsFirst of all, we have assessed present situations andneeds based on knowledge acquired from our numerous
visits to oil-producing countries in the past and on
information obtained from participants who have cometo Japan.
As a result, we found that aside from minor
differences according to country, the following situations
were common to all Middle East countries.
(1) Oil companies in oil-producing countries are shifting
their corporate structure to one that prioritizes
profitability and are pursuing efficient operations.
(2) Due to frequent occurrences of refinery accidents,
there is strong interest in safety measures.
(3) There is a strong inclination toward the integrationof refineries and petrochemistry.
(4) Efforts are being directed to the developmentof human resources in a post-petroleum era, bypromoting labor nationalization policies, regulating
the rapid influx of foreign laborers, and creating
greater employment for national citizens.
(5) The construction, expansion and modernization ofrefineries is a pressing issue.
Based on awareness of the above, we spent more thanhalf a year internally discussing how we might make
JCCP courses more practical than before, and ultimately
established future action guidelines after also consultingwith JCCP’s Working Group for Country-specific Action
20 • Personnel Exchange Programs •Plan, a committee composed of outside members.

2. Future Action Guidelines
The future action guidelines are composed of four
policies, including responses to common needs in oilproducing countries and responses to specific needs,
based on the Country-specific Action Plan.
They also include improvement measures, organizedaccording to their urgency: those that need to be promptly
implemented; those that should be implemented with amedium-term perspective; and those that should be
implemented after the necessary institutional changes
are made.
As the action guidelines cover more ground than canbe introduced here, we will simply present the main
points below.
(1) Measures for prompt implementation
We will shift the focus of our basic approach totraining from “teaching” to “learning together,” and aim
to offer courses that not only provide unilateral lectures
but also encourage interactive discussions and exchangesof views among participants in small groups, and that not
only teach technical skills but also thinking skills.
We will also devise methods of imparting Japanesestyle operational know-how regarding management
practices.
Furthermore, we will propose and implement special
programs designed in response to specific needs in
oil-producing countries through consistent visits andcommunication.
(2) Measures for implementation with a mediumterm perspective
We will aim to provide more depth to offsite training
at refineries by incorporating plant tours and discussions
with engineers.
We are also giving consideration to offering special
courses for groups composed of members from multiple
Middle East countries.
(3) Measures for implementation after making thenecessary institutional changes
We will examine how we can more effectively

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Discussion and presentation session held after improvements were made to special courses

respond to requests for the long-term dispatch of experts
to oil-producing countries and requests for participationin courses in Japan. We will also consider introducing
new courses, such as on petrochemical topics.

3. Implementation of the Action
Guidelines
We are implementing the action guidelines beginningwith items that are more readily feasible.
The examples below show some of the improvementsthat have been made so far.
(1) Example of improvement in regular courses
Regular courses are held in Japan with the participationof a group of ten to twenty members composed of one totwo members each from different countries. JCCP offers
more than 20 regular courses each year, as the core of
JCCP-initiative programs.
A significant number of regular courses requireparticipants to give a presentation, depending on thefeature topic of the course. Previously, it was a onesided exercise where each participant simply delivered apresentation through to the end and responded to questions
afterward. However, we made these presentation sessions
interactive, by having participants engage in mutual
discussions within small groups before giving a summary
presentation to the other participants.
This change allowed participants to engage in deep
discussions beyond a surface-level question-and-answer
process and gain greater understanding of various
presentation topics.
(2) Example of improvement in special courses(customized programs)
Special courses are held in response to individual
needs of oil-producing countries, and are implemented
either in the relevant country or in Japan.
In a special course implemented in Saudi Arabia lastyear, we incorporated a group discussion session for the
first time in a special course held in an oil-producing
country. In the session, the participants were instructed

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 21

to “discuss ideals in their workplace and the gap(problem) between those ideals and reality.” They spent
the morning hours in small groups, identifying common
issues, discussing the reality and ideals of those issues,and deriving an action plan for solving them, and thengave group presentations in the afternoon.
This type of discussion, based primarily on the
difficult task of identifying common issues among
participants, cannot be achieved in regular courses inwhich participants are from different countries andcompanies. It is possible, however, in special courses,
precisely because all participants are from the same
company and can openly discuss any topic related totheir company.
This first attempt at holding a group discussion
in a special course was extremely well received by
the participants, and elicited requests to hold similarworkshops in the future.
(3) Implementation of new, long-term special
courses
As a new initiative for responding to oil-producing
countries’ requests for long-term training, we launched
a new type of special course that spans an extended
period of roughly two months. The course was offered toparticipants from Saudi Arabia and Iran from the end of
May 2010, and received favorable reviews stating that itprovides deeper training compared to regular courses.
(4) Implementation of a new information exchange
program for young engineers
Another new initiative we launched in FY2010 is a
program that contributes to the development of young
personnel in oil-producing countries and Japan byinviting young engineers to make reciprocal visits toeach other’s country. This year, the program was offeredin May and June to young engineers in Saudi Arabia
and Japan, and was appreciated by all participants asa meaningful program that has allowed them to gain
understanding of situations in each other’s country,
acquire insight that is beneficial to their respective duties,
and create a new network of relationships.

4. Future Efforts
To offer training programs that are more practical thanever before, we will make gradual improvements basedon our future action guidelines, with the cooperation of
all partner companies and organizations in considerationof the degree of feasibility of each measure.
At the same time, JCCP lecturers will continue tomake consistent visits to oil-producing countries todirectly assess their needs in even more detail and torespond to those needs based on the PDCA cycle.
<by Shigeyoshi Takahashi, Training Dept.>

22 • Personnel Exchange Programs •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Personnel
Exchange

New JCCP Training Initiative:
Implementation of a Long Course“Practical Training for Young Instrumentation andControl Engineers”
JCCP launched a long course called “Practical
Training for Young Instrumentation and Control
Engineers” this fiscal year as a new initiative in training.
Intended for young engineers in the instrumentation andcontrol fields in Middle East oil-producing countries,
the course was designed to provide practical training
through a systematic program that covers a broad rangeof topics, from basic to applied technologies in the two
fields, with a main focus on hands-on learning.
For successful implementation, the course required a
net number of 39 days. Including weekends, it spanneda total of 53 days, from May 25 (Tue) to July 16 (Fri),
2010. An overview of the course is provided below.

1. Background to Implementation of the
CourseSince last year, we at JCCP have been contriving
ways to enhance the practicality of our courses in order
to offer training that more closely responds to the needs
and requests of oil-producing countries and is even more
beneficial than before. Particularly in the instrumentationand control fields, regular course participants havevoiced strong requests for systematic training on wideranging topics, from basic to applied technologies. The
said long course was formulated under this situation,
after much trial and error.
Our main concern was in designing a program that
ensures both systematic and practical implementation.
While basing it on a regular course program, we
also needed to take steps to prevent obsolescence, byfeaturing the latest technologies, maintaining a highlevel of specialty, and incorporating hands-on training
in addition to lectures. Toward this end, we obtained fullcooperation from multiple Japanese companies related
to instrumentation and control, and began designing the
program roughly a year ago, around summer 2009.
Another major issue we faced was in the selectionof countries and companies that are interested in

Course participants

participating in a long course and that could afford
to send participants to Japan over such a long periodof time. With the cooperation of JCCP’s various
departments, we spent many occasions making a carefulselection of potential countries mainly among the
Middle East oil-producing countries. Throughout thisselection process, Iran and Saudi Arabia, which haveconsistently supported JCCP’s efforts since the very
beginning, have taken strong interest in the new course
as having potential to produce significant results, byoffering various suggestions and requests. Therefore,
in the end, we designed a long customized course fora group of participants from two countries, Iran andSaudi Arabia.

2. Course Overview(1) Participants
The course was offered to Iran and Saudi Arabia, andwas attended by a group of nine participants, four from
Iran (NIORDC) and five from Saudi Arabia (ARAMCO).
Members from the two countries included one leader
and one middle-level engineer each from different
refineries. The engineers were aged 35 and above on
average (Iranian participants were between the ages of
35 and 41; Saudi Arabian participants were between 27

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 23

and 39), and equally represented the instrumentationand control fields.
It was evident in their every action that the participants
came to the training filled with enthusiasm as selected
representatives of their countries. Although they may
have felt some worries about leaving their workplace
responsibilities for close to two months, they displayeda high degree of determination to make the most of the
training opportunity and take home all the necessary
knowledge and experience. For example, while they gave
unstinting applause to lectures they felt were particularly
satisfying and agreeable, when they had a question, they
continued to seek clarification of the issue until they were
fully satisfied. Many of the Saudi Arabian participants
were especially quick to ask questions whenever alecturer presented even the slightest information they
did not understand. At the same, however, they also
warned each other when they felt that their questions
were interrupting a lecture for too long, and maintained agood balance among the group. The Iranian participants,on the other hand, tended to ask relatively few questions
during the lectures but saved them until the end so as not
to interrupt the flow of the lectures. The lecturers notedwith interest this difference between participants fromthe two countries.
The two-country makeup of the group, with eachcountry’s members coming from different refineries
and regions in their countries, seemed to have a positiveeffect on the participants themselves during theirprolonged stay in a foreign country. It allowed themto mutually share and gain a different perspective on
specific workplace issues while also providing a sense ofreassurance in number. Members from the same country
tended to stay together as a group outside of the course,
but during hands-on exercises and practical training, they
actively communicated with each other and worked in aconcerted manner irrespective of nationality.
(2) Selection of Program Topics
The course was designed to provide knowledge ofbasic to applied technologies in the instrumentation andcontrol fields in a practical fashion, as mentioned above.
Under the two large headings of “instrumentation” and“control,” four categories of topics were organizedaccording to basic and applied technologies.
For example, for the control field, the “basic”
part included lectures on controller tuning theory andpractice using a simulator, which is also a popular topic
in JCCP regular courses, and an overview of advanced

24 • Personnel Exchange Programs •control; the “applied” part featured a lecture on model
predictive control (MPC), a representative method ofadvanced control, and practical training on a methodof optimization combining MPC and a process model.
For the instrumentation field, the “basic” part provided
lectures on basic measurement principles for flow rate,
temperature, pressure, and other such parameters, and the“applied” part covered equipment maintenance, practicaltraining on relevant tasks from the formulation of basic
design to onsite construction, the advanced technology offield bus designing, and loop designing based on processcontrol characteristics.
Details of each program are provided in the following
section under “Control-related training provided at
JCCP,” “Instrumentation-related training provided at
JCCP,” and “Offsite training.” Offsite training focusedon providing first-hand knowledge of applied and newtechnologies in instrumentation and control throughvisits to refineries and plants.
The programs were specifically developed withtremendous cooperation from nine major companies
related to instrumentation and control in Japan. A
total of 29 programs were developed, including ten
control-related programs provided at JCCP, nine
instrumentation-related programs provided at JCCP,
and ten offsite training programs. Of these programs,
more than 60%, or 19 programs to be exact, were newprograms offered for the first time (12 JCCP programs
and seven offsite programs). The nine cooperatingcompanies agreed to dispatch 67 employees as lecturers,
and to implement ten of the offsite training programs
over a period of 16 days.
The number of cooperating companies, the names ofcompanies that provided offsite training, and the numberof lecturers are as follows.
1) Name of companies by field: 9 companies(i) Instrumentation and control device
manufacturers (4 companies):
Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Yamatake Corporation
Emerson Japan, Ltd.
Oval Corporation(ii) Engineering companies (3 companies):
JGC Corporation
Toyo Engineering Corporation
Chiyoda Corporation(iii) Oil companies (2 companies):
JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation
Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

2) Offsite training: 10 programs
A total of 10 programs (7 new programs) were
implemented at 9 sites of 6 companies, including 2
oil companies. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation
implemented 2 programs.
(i) JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation(ii) Yamatake Corporation, Niigata Operational
Training Center (Niigata)(iii) Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Tokuyama Refineryand Training Center (Tokuyama)(iv) Emerson Japan, Ltd., Solutions Center(Kurashiki)(v) Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Mitaka Head
Office (Mitaka)(vi) Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Kofu Plant(vii) Oval Corporation, Yokohama Operation
Center (Yokohama)(viii) Yamatake Corporation, Shonan Plant(Chigasaki)(ix) Yamatake Corporation, Fujisawa Techno
Center (Fujisawa)(x) JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation, Oita
Refinery* New programs were implemented at sites (i), (ii),(iv), (vi), (vii), (ix), and (x).

(i)

Yokogawa Electric Corporation:
23 + plant personnel(ii) Yamatake Corporation:
15 + plant personnel(iii) Emerson Japan, Ltd.:
5 (including 4 engineers dispatched fromabroad)(iv) Oval Corporation:
2 + plant personnel(v) JGC Corporation:
4(vi) Toyo Engineering Corporation:
7(vii) Chiyoda Corporation:
4(viii) JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation:
5 + refinery staff(ix) Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.:
2 + refinery staff(3) Main Details of Programs
Most of the programs were well accepted by theparticipants, but since not all details can be provided,
the following is a general summary of programs thatsuccessfully embodied our goal of providing “trainingthat is more practical than before.”
1) Control-related training provided at JCCP:
10 programs(i) The nine programs in the control field provided
a verification of basic theories and technologies
related to process control, but the content
sufficiently satisfied and captured the attentionof the technically advanced participants of thecourse.
(ii) Among these programs, the combinationof skillful lecture techniques and hands-on
simulator training seemed to be especially valid

At the Niigata Operational Training Center3) Lecturers
Lectures and offsite training were conductedby four JCCP lecturers and a total of 67 specialist
employees from cooperating companies. At offsite
locations, 45 engineers provided training, assisted bylarge numbers of plant personnel and staff members
who facilitated equipment maintenance exercises andthe smooth implementation of lectures.
The following is a list of the number of lecturers
by company.
JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Simulator training at JCCP

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 25

in the practical training on DCS (distributed
control systems) related to offsite training at
JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation’s Niigata
Operation Training Center and the practicaltraining on classic control theories.
(iii) A lecture on Kaizen was provided in response
to a strong request from the participants.
Although it was not directly related to thetheme of the course, the request reflected theparticipants’ high level of interest in Japanesestyle operational improvement practices, andoffered a perspective for observing various
initiatives implemented at the sites of offsite
training provided by cooperating companies.
2) Instrumentation-related training provided at JCCP:
9 programs(i) Beginning with a basic lecture on measurement
principles for instrumentation devices, threemajor engineering companies in Japan wereasked to conduct programs on equipment
maintenance, tasks from basic designing toonsite construction work, and the flow of
operations in an actual project. As all programs
were newly developed for this course, we tookcare so that the lectures by the three companies
do not overlap each other.
(ii) Each cooperating company applied creativeideas to their lectures and hands-on training, andprovided an understanding of the significanceof “designing,” a concept with which theparticipants were not necessarily familiar.
Furthermore, combined with hands-on training
at an instrumentation device manufacturer using
actual devices, the program proved to be highly
effective.
3) Offsite training: 10 programs(i) JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation and
Yamatake Corporation, Niigata Operational
Training Center (Niigata): May 31 (Mon.)– June 2 (Wed.)• As these two companies utilize their idle
refinery production facilities for hands-on
operational training, they were asked to
implement two new programs that use thosefacilities.
• One of the themes of the new programs wasto provide practical training using actual
facilities on the functions and maintenanceprocedures for DCS and instrumentation

26 • Personnel Exchange Programs •Training using an actual plant

devices at Yamatake Corporation. The otherwas to provide a series of operational training
from the startup of standalone equipment toemergency countermeasures at JX Nippon
Oil & Energy Corporation.
• The programs implemented by these twocompanies composed an integral part of thesystematic, practical training that included
computer simulation at JCCP, mini plant
operations, and actual plant operations at oilcompanies.
• It seems that most of the participants had
already received training in instrumentationand control in their countries or at a training
center in Europe, but they neverthelessshowed interest in the Niigata Training
Center’s training methods, mostly owing
to the lecturer’s high teaching skills.
They seemed particularly interested in its
methods of providing skills for handling
instrumentation devices in an actual plantand operational control techniques throughtraining.
(ii) Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Tokuyama Refineryand Training Center (Tokuyama): June 14(Mon.) – June 15 (Tue.)• The Tokuyama Refinery uses an independently
developed advanced process control system
in its actual operations, and provided theparticipants with an invaluable opportunity
to observe first-hand a control application in
operation in an instrument room.
• The participants had many questions about
the refinery’s maintenance system prior

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

to making the visit and asked even moredetailed questions in the instrument room
about the division of roles among theofficers and their daily routines and tasks.
Refinery engineers responded to each andevery question with sincerity, and createdan extremely favorable impression among
the participants.

(iv) Yokogawa Corporation, Mitaka Head Office(Mitaka) and Kofu Plant (Yamanashi): June 21(Mon.) – June 23 (Wed.)• Yokogawa Corporation provided a highly
motivating program covering many newtechnologies as requested by the participants,
and also provided a tour of its instrumentation
device plant in Kofu for the first time.
• The participants rated the program highly, as
it covered products that they familiar with,while also emphasizing new technologies.
• The visit to the Kofu Plant not only
provided an engaging look at Japanese-style
management, including the 6S+S (5S +safety + sense) concept and practice, but also
allowed the participants to witness the scenic
beauty of Japan as they traveled to the plant,
located at some distance from Tokyo.

At the Tokuyama Refinery(iii) Emerson Japan, Ltd., Solutions Center(Kurashiki): June 16 (Wed.) – June 17 (Thu.)• In response to the participants’ strong request to
study the latest instrumentation technologies,
Emerson Japan provided thorough training on
a wireless instrumentation system by bringing
in an expert engineer from abroad and using
a specially built demonstration unit.
• As a result of the participants’ strong interestin wireless instrumentation coupled withthe company’s effective presentation of the
topic, the program was highly appreciatedand well received by all participants.

Placing special emphasis on new technologies

Participants displayed strong interest in new technologies(v) Oval Corporation, Yokohama Operation Center(Yokohama): June 25 (Fri.)• We asked Oval Corporation to organize a
new offsite training program, because thecompany is well known in some of theoil-producing countries as a manufacturerof flow meters, and also because it is able
to provide training in the disassembly andmaintenance of independent devices at its
facility.
• Since the participants had already studied thestructure and functions of instrumentation
devices in advance, the program provided
at the company’s Yokohama Operation
Center focused on hands-on disassembly,
maintenance, and assembly of actual
devices. Learning about relevant devices

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 27

and at the same time acquiring knowledge
and practice in actually disassembling andassembling those devices in a single training
program seemed to be a new experienceeven to the instrumentation engineers of thecourse. With perspiration glistening on theirforeheads, they happily applied themselvesto the disassembly/assembly exercise.

Participants practicing the disassembly and assembly of
instrumentation devices(vi) Yamatake Corporation, Shonan Plant (Chigasaki)
and Fujisawa Techno Center (Fujisawa): July 5(Mon.) – July 7 (Wed.)• Yamatake Corporation had organized aprogram centered on the maintenance of
DCS and instrumentation devices (control
valves), but in response to the participants’request, we asked them on short notice toallot some time to providing training on DCS
and safety instrumentation systems.

• A well-balanced training on the maintenanceof control valves was achieved throughthe combination of a detailed introductionof the product manufacturing process at
Shonan Plant, and lectures and disassembly/
maintenance practice of independent devices
at Fujisawa Techno Center.
• The participants possessed extensive
theoretical knowledge about instrumentation
to begin with, but the program provided avaluable and highly meaningful experienceby offering the opportunity to confirm
the functions of a device while actuallydisassembling it.
(vii) JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation, Oita
Refinery: July 12 (Mon.) – July 13 (Tue.)• We asked JX Nippon Oil & Energy
Corporation to provide a training program at
its Oita Refinery for the first time, because itis advanced in the digitization of documents(specifications, systematic diagrams, etc.)
and has a well-established maintenancesystem in place.
• The refinery had just completed major
periodical repairs in June, immediately prior
to providing the offsite training program, andhad little time for preparation. Nevertheless,the staff were kind and patient in responding
to the participants’ many questions withdetailed answers.
• The opportunity for direct exchanges withrefinery engineers was also a significant
factor of the program to the participants.

Participants practicing maintenance28 • Personnel Exchange Programs •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

At the Oita Refinery3. Observations
Initially, we intended for the course to be attended
by young engineers with around three years’ experience
in instrumentation and control, but the participants
who actually took part in the course were middle-levelengineers specializing in the two fields. To match theirhigh level of technical expertise, we had all of ourlecturers modify their originally planned programs, andwere thus concerned until the very end as to whether theparticipants would find the course to be satisfactory on
the whole.
Upon completion of the course, we were relieved
to find that all nine participants evaluated the course as
almost entirely satisfactory, and that we had achieved
our goal of providing courses that are “more practicalthan before.” While we are proud of having designed
an optimum course, we also owe the successful
implementation of the course to the outstanding qualityof the participants and to the generous cooperation ofhighly advanced Japanese companies.
Despite spending close to two months attending an
extended training course in a foreign country, an Iranianparticipant noted that he never once felt homesick. We
are glad, and hope that other participants also felt thisway owing to the fact that they were with other members
from their country, and also to the Japanese people whointeracted with them in a friendly manner.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the group of
middle-level engineers who participated in this course

displayed a high level of expertise and knowledge, anenthusiastic attitude toward training, and a strong senseof responsibility as a representative of their country andcompany, not to mention mature traits and qualities.
Furthermore, they possessed the necessary attitudes andabilities to adjust to living in a foreign country for close
to two months, and maintained high conscientiousness
from the beginning to the end of the course. They were
so well adjusted by the end of the course that some of
the Saudi Arabian participants noted that they would liketo adopt the good customs and aspects of the Japanese,such as punctuality, and even had one participant saying,“We are Japanese now.”
The contribution and cooperation of all companies
that provided specialized programs centered on practicaltraining was especially instrumental to the successful
completion of the course. They consistently acted in apositive and sincere manner, which demonstrated thequalities and corporate culture of the Japanese people
aside from their technical capabilities. They also showed
flexibility and broadness in changing and improving theirprogram content to accommodate participants’ requests(mainly for advanced levels of training), even in the
midst of implementing their program.
Lastly, JCCP takes pride in having planned sufficiently
in advance for the two-month-long course, having
established a cooperative framework that cuts across all
relevant departments, and in having ensured the basic
requirements for the participants’ extended stay in Japan,
all toward bringing the course to successful completion.
<by Teruhiko Sasaki, Training Dept.>

Toward a Future Renewalof JCCP Courses
JCCP consistently takes action to play a central role inensuring that Japan has stable supplies of oil and energy,
and to contribute to mutual economic development with
oil-producing countries. Offering training courses is oneof our core functions in strengthening friendly relations
between oil-producing countries and Japan. They area means for helping oil-producing countries achieve
technical and management improvements in the oil
downstream sector, and for promoting mutual exchanges

Personnel
Exchange

between the oil industries/institutions in oil-producing
countries and Japan. Engineers, middle-level managers,
and logistics/marketing managers in the oil downstream
sector in oil-producing countries are invited to attend
training courses in Japan to acquire Japan’s technologies
and knowledge and upgrade their capacities, as wellas to deepen their understanding of Japan. We also
send Japanese experts to provide training programs in
oil-producing countries with the aim of introducing

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 29

Japan’s technologies, knowledge, and experience, andof achieving mutual development.
Recently, however, some of our counterpart oilproducing countries have noted that the JCCP regularcourse program has not changed much over the past
five years. Furthermore, the number of participants has
begun to decrease in recent years, and a conspicuous
difference has emerged in the participation between the
GCC countries and other oil-producing countries. This
indicates that a difference has evolved between whatparticipants seek and what the management seeks in
JCCP courses. Under this situation, the GCC countries
are requesting JCCP to offer courses that are morepractical than before.
In response to the above views and requests, we began
a comprehensive review of our training courses last fiscal
year, and are currently working toward strengthening
their practicality.
Given the diversification of needs in each country
today, it is become ever more important to assess the
problems facing each country and to offer training
courses that provide as much help as possible in solving
those problems. Based on this awareness, we decided
to supplement our conventional survey activities
with surveys conducted by the lecturers themselves
who organize the training courses. The lecturers willmeet directly with relevant personnel at counterpart
organizations to hear their requests and suggestions
concerning JCCP courses and course content. We will
use the information obtained from these surveys toconfirm whether the direction we are taking to improve
the practicality of our courses is valid, and to explore
how JCCP should cooperate in addressing the needs
and issues of counterpart organizations in the future.
Furthermore, in order to implement the PDCA* cycle toimprove JCCP courses based on the survey results, wewill be formulating a medium-term plan toward renewalof the content of the courses.
An outline of the survey is as follows. The results of thesurvey will be presented in future issues of JCCP News.

n Survey regions and period:(1) GCC region A (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman)
September(2) GCC region B (UAE, Kuwait, Iraq)
September(3) Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan)
November(4) North Africa (Sudan, Libya)
December* PDCA: Plan-Do-Check-Action

The results of the surveys will be reported to theCommittee for the Survey of Downstream Trends in
Oil-producing Countries and compiled into a final survey
report, an overview of which will be featured in JCCP
News. The results will also be utilized in formulating
the medium-term plan for renewal of JCCP’s training
program.

1. Survey Methodn Survey teams: Teams headed by lecturers from theTraining Department will conduct the surveys.
n Targets of the surveys: Executive managers and the
management of training departments

30 • Personnel Exchange Programs •2. Focus of Surveys(1) How are JCCP training programs regarded?
・ Expectations of JCCP courses
・ Purpose and expectations of sending participants
to JCCP courses
・ How do participants put the training experience
to use after returning to their workplace?
・ How are participants evaluated after they returnto their workplace?
(2) What types of course programs are sought?
・ Regular courses
・ Customized programs・ Countries that have a previous record of participationin JCCP training programs: Evaluation and future
expectations
・ Countries that do not have a previous record ofparticipation in JCCP training programs: Desired
topics and content(3) Method of evaluation of participants・ Participant selection criteria, etc.
・ Views, requests and suggestions concerning
JCCP’s current evaluation method
・ Each country’s reaction
・ Improvement of evaluation system
・ Aspect of participant evaluation considered mostimportant

3. Reporting

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011<by Fumihiro Tone, Training Dept.>

JCCP Regular Courses Completed in September – November 2010
TR-10-10

Environmental Management for Refineries
September 28 – October 15, 2010

Content:

Petroleum Industry in Japan; Soil and Groundwater
Remediation; Tank Sludge Treatment; Air Pollution in
Refineries; Overview of Environmental Pollution Control
in Japan and Japanese Refineries; Global WarmingCountermeasures; Environmental Management System;
Waste Water Control in Refineries; Waste Water Re-use
and Desalination of Sea Water

Site visits:

Kurita Global Technology Center; Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd.
(Sakaide Refinery); Bannosu Eco Service Co., Ltd.;
Shimadzu Co., Ltd. (Head Office, Sanjo Factory)

Country ofparticipants:

Brazil, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya,
Mexico, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam, Yemen

Lecturer: Bunsuke Kariya<13 countries / 16 participants>

TR-11-10

Material Problems and Their Countermeasures
September 28 – October 15, 2010

Content:

Maintenance Activities of Static Equipment;
Material Selection of Refinery Equipment;
The Latest Welding Technology; Case Study andDiscussion; Corrosion & Deterioration Problems ofMaterials in a Refinery; Metallurgy of Welding;
Typical Problems and Countermeasures of HighTensile Steels; Repair Technology of Tanks; Risk Based
Optimization of Maintenance; Materials and Fabricationof Pressure Vessels; Total Plant Reliability Activity;
Typical Case of Corrosion in Refinery; Safety & Reliabilityof Aged Plant in Chemical, Petroleum Process Industries

Site visits:

Chiyoda Corporation (Headquarters); Taseto Co., Ltd.
(Head Office); IHI Corporation (Product Engineering
Center); Shinko Plantech Co., Ltd. (Head Office);
The Japan Steel Works Ltd. (Muroran Plant); JX Nippon
Oil & Energy Corporation (Muroran Refinery)Country ofparticipants:

Brazil, China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman,
Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Thailand, Vietnam, Yemen

Lecturer: Kenji Saito<14 countries / 15 participants>

TR-12-10

Advanced Field Devices and Control
September 28 – October 15, 2010

Content:

Petroleum Industry in Japan; Control and Information
Systems in Refinery; Latest Instrument Technology;
Practice on Advanced Control System; Practice on PID
Tuning; Basics on Control Valves; Safety Instrument
System; Basics on Instrumentation and Unit Control

Site visits:

Oval Corporation (Yokohama Factory); Yokogawa
Electric Corporation (Mitaka Headquarters);
Shinkawa Sensor Technology, Inc.; Idemitsu Kosan
Company Ltd., (Chiba Refinery); Yamatake Corporation(Shonan Factory)

Country ofparticipants:

Colombia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Mexico,
Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Thailand, Yemen, Vietnam

Lecturer: Kazuhiro Suzuki<13 countries / 14 participants>

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 31

TR-13-10

Petroleum Marketing and Product Delivery
October 19 – November 5, 2010

Content:

Petroleum Industry in Japan; Development of New
Business & New Automobile Fuel; Delivery System of Oil
Products & Safety Operation; Management by Rational
Thinking Process; Current World Energy Situation;
Production of Pipelines & Maintenance; Oil Company’s
Branch Office & SS Sales; Jet Fuel Facilities & Refueling;
Shipping System of Refinery; Japanese Management
Style and Kaizen General

Site visits:

JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation (Head Office/Ichikawa Oil Depot/Chugoku Branch Office/Negishi
Refinery); JFE Steel Corporation (The West Works);
San-ai Oil Co., Ltd.

Country ofparticipants:

Bahrain, Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan,
Kuwait, Libya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Vietnam

Lecturer: Yasuo Tabei<14 countries / 16 participants>

TR-14-10

Gas Processing for LNG
October 19 – November 5, 2010

Content:

Outline of LNG Plant; Global LNG Market; Steel Pipe
Technologies; Development and Production of LNG;
Natural Gas to New Energy Development DME, GTL,
IGCC; LNG Vaporizer and Compressor Technologies;
Gas-Turbine Technologies; LNG Storage Tank
Technologies; LNG Ship Technologies

Site visits:

Kobe Steel, Ltd. (Takasago Works); The Kansai ElectricPower Co., Inc. (Himeji); Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (Himeji
No. 1 Power Station); Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
(Takasago Machinery Works); IHI Corporation (Yokohama
Factory); Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
(Chiba Shipyard)

Country ofparticipants:

China, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan,Philippines, Sudan, Thailand, Vietnam

Lecturer: Takaaki Yuasa<11 countries / 13 participants>

TR-15-10

Project Management for Mechanical Engineers
October 19 – November 5, 2010

Content:

Project Management Activities in Oil Refinery in Japan;“Kaizen” General based on Japanese Management;
Project Cost Management; Project Engineering for
EPC Project by Utilizing IT; Project Risk Management
and Contract; Recent Technologies for Turbine andBoiler; Project Management for EPC Project; Project
Planning and Management in the Refinery; Tank
Inspection Planning and Execution; TPM Activity; Recent
Technologies for High Pressure Vessel Manufacturing;
Schedule Management Practice, etc.

Site visits:

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Yokohama Works);
JGC (Headquarters); Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Hokkaido
Refinery); Hokkaido Joint Oil Stockpiling Terminal(Hokkaido Office); The Japan Steel Works (Muroran
Plant); Digital Engineering and Management

Country ofparticipants:

Indonesia, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan,
Thailand, UAE, Vietnam

Lecturer: Fumihiro Tone

<9 countries / 15 participants>

32 • Personnel Exchange Programs •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

FY2011 JCCP Course Schedule
In FY2011, JCCP will offer 23 courses, including 21 regular courses (TR) and 2 intensive courses(IT), as shown below.
Course No.

Course title

PeriodTR-1-11

Petroleum Marketing

Apr. 5 – Apr. 22, 2011

TR-2-11

Upgrading Processes of Heavy Oil

Apr. 5 – Apr. 22, 2011

TR-3-11DCS Fundamentals and Applications

Apr. 5 – Apr. 22, 2011

TR-4-11

Human Resource Management (HRM)

May 10 – May 27, 2011

TR-5-11

Essential Petroleum Refining for Process Engineers

May 10 – May 27, 2011

TR-6-11

Refinery Management

May 31 – Jun. 14, 2011

TR-7-11

Diagnostic Techniques and Maintenance for Rotary MachineryMay 31 – Jun. 17, 2011

TR-8-11

Safety Management for Refineries

Jun. 21 – Jul. 8, 2011

TR-9-11

Maintenance Management

Jun. 21 – Jul. 8, 2011

TR-10-11

Environmental Management for Refineries

Sep. 20 – Oct. 7, 2011

TR-11-11

Project Management for Mechanical Engineers

Sep. 20 – Oct. 7, 2011

TR-12-11

Petroleum Marketing and Oil Terminal

Oct. 11 – Oct. 28, 2011

TR-13-11

Advanced Field Devices and Control

Oct. 11 – Oct. 28, 2011

TR-14-11

Gas Processing for LNG

Nov. 1 – Nov. 18, 2011

TR-15-11

Material Problems and Their Countermeasures

Nov. 1 – Nov. 18, 2011

IT-1-11

Turnaround and Inspection (T&I)

Nov. 21 – Dec. 2, 2011

TR-16-11

Human Resource Development (HRD)

Nov. 22 – Dec. 9, 2011

TR-17-11

Information and Control Systems Utilized in Refineries

Nov. 22 – Dec. 9, 2011

IT-2-11

Petroleum Marketing and Physical Distribution

Jan. 10 – Jan. 20, 2012

TR-18-11

Energy Saving for Profitability Improvement

Jan. 17 – Feb. 3, 2012

TR-19-11

Inspection and Reliability Evaluation

Jan. 17 – Feb. 3, 2012

TR-20-11

Quality Management of Refinery Products

Feb. 7 – Feb. 24, 2012

TR-21-11

Advanced Process Control on DCS

Feb. 7 – Feb. 24, 2012

Marketing, Distribution and HRM

Refining Processes and Operation

Maintenance and Inspection

Computer and Instrumentation

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Personnel Exchange Programs • 33

TechnicalCooperation

Fish Reef Completion Ceremony“Application Study of Sulfur Concrete
Technology in UAE”
On August 3, 2010, JCCP and the Marine Environment
Research Center (MERC) of the UAE Ministry ofEnvironment and Water held a ceremony at the JAL Hotelin the Emirate of Fujairah, UAE, to mark the completionof an artificial fish reef under the “Application Study of
Sulfur Concrete Technology in UAE.”

1. Project Overview
Sulfur is a refinery operation by-product that isavailable in surplus. This project aims to demonstrate
how the application of this large supply of sulfur
resources could be expanded, by creating sulfur concrete
from sulfur, sand, and additives, installing artificial fish
reef blocks and sewage pipes made of sulfur concrete on
a trial basis, and examining their applicability in UAE.
Compared to regular concrete, sulfur concrete is moresalt resistant and acid resistant—properties that make itsuitable for use as fish reef blocks and sewage pipes.
To examine the applicability of sulfur concrete to
sewage pipes, a segment (approx. 80 m) of existing
pipes in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi was replaced with sulfur
concrete sewage pipes last January. The evaluation of
its applicability is presently ongoing.
To examine the applicability of sulfur concrete as
an artificial fish reef, sulfur concrete fish reef blocks
have been installed off the coast of Umm Al Quwain

last June, and off the coast of Fujairah this February.
After their installation, a large colony of pearl oysters
and numerous schools of fish have been confirmed. With
regular concrete fish reefs, the growth of algae and shells
take time, because concrete is alkaline, but since sulfur
concrete is practically neutral in alkalinity, algae andshell growth was observed soon after installation.
The fish reef blocks are being checked for any outflow
of substances, and the impact of any such outflow on theenvironment is being assessed at a MERC laboratory.
So far, no outflows to the sea or impact on fishes havebeen observed, and the safety of sulfur concrete has
been confirmed.

2. Completion Ceremony
A ceremony marking the completion of the fish reef
was held to present the proven effects of the fish reef and
to introduce JCCP activities to UAE parties.

Mr. Morihiro Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP,
delivering a speech

Fish reef block covered with pearl oysters

34 • Technical Cooperation •The ceremony was held with the attendance ofDr. Ebrahim Al Jamali, Manager, MERC, Ministry ofEnvironment & Water; Mr. Soliman Al Kadem, Head of
Fujairah Fisheries Society, and others on the UAE side;and H.E. Mr. Tatsuo Watanabe, Japanese Ambassador

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

to UAE; representatives from participating Japanesecompanies Penta-Ocean Construction Co., Ltd. and JX
Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation; and Mr. Morihiro
Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP, on the Japaneseside.

Exchanging views while browsing a wall of photosof the project

Dr. Ebrahim Al Jamali, Manager, MERC, giving a presentation
on future plans for the fish reef

Following a series of speeches by the guests of honorand sponsors of the ceremony, an overview of the project
was introduced, and technical presentations were given
regarding the installation status of the fish reefs andthe results of ensuing observations. The participating
Japanese companies and MERC assumed the role ofgiving the presentations, and used photos and videos tovisually emphasize the effects of the installed fish reefs.
This produced frequent questions and comments fromfishery members and other UAE participants throughout
the presentations, as an indication of their strong interestin the project. The participants also engaged in active
exchanges of views while browsing photographs of the
fish reefs displayed along the wall at the back of theroom, before and during intervals of the ceremony.

3. Ripple Effects of the Project
The global balance of sulfur demand-supply continues
to trend toward considerable supply excess. In fact, theMiddle Eastern countries as a whole produce sulfur inamounts exceeding demand by more than 4 million
tons/year. At present, some 2.4 million tons of sulfur are
produced in UAE refineries, but this volume is expected
to increase to almost 6.5 million tons by 2015.
Even from a global perspective, sulfur production
is steadily growing amid an increasing need to process
heavier crude oil and produce lighter, low-sulfur fuels.
Given this situation, the development of large-scalesulfur applications is extremely important to refinery
management, and the application of sulfur to such
structures as artificial fish reefs and sewage pipes offersa potential solution as a large-scale market for sulfur.
The fish reefs that were installed in this project are ofminimum scale, and the sulfur concrete blocks composing
each fish reef were made using approximately 100 tonsof sulfur. However, since some fish reefs are almost
1,000 times larger in reality, sulfur usage would amountto some 100,000 tons per fish reef. Besides sulfur, sandand other aggregates can also be procured in UAE, so
steady technical transfer to UAE through this project
would enable the demonstration of sulfur concrete asa large-scale outlet for sulfur usage, as well as creating
new employment in the country. There are thus mounting
expectations of this project on the UAE side.
<by Hiroshi Iida, Technical Cooperation Dept.>

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Technical Cooperation • 35

TechnicalCooperation

JCCP Launches New Projectwith Qatar Petroleum—New Project Signing Ceremony—
On September 22, 2010, JCCP and Qatar Petroleum(QP) held a signing ceremony for the “Study on Energy
Efficiency Improvement, Corrosion and Fouling Issues at
QP Refinery” at the QP Head Office. Mr. Hussain M. AlIshaq, Director Refining, Refining–Directorate, and Mr.
Morihiro Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP, signed
the agreement under the witness of officials representing
the two sides. The ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr.
Yukio Kitazume, Ambassador, and First Secretary Mr.
Yoshinori Satake from the Japanese Embassy in Qatar;
Mr. Abdulaziz M. Al-Khoori, Operations Manager,
Refining–Operations, and managers from otherdepartments on the QP side; and Mr. Masahiko Hirajo,
Director of Cosmo Engineering Co., Ltd., the project
implementing company.
QP has recently commenced an HSE (Health, Safety& Environment) Managing Program in response to
the currently heightened awareness concerning global
environmental improvement. The program aims to
implement full-scale environmental measures, such asby promoting the 4R (refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle)
concept, the supply of green products, reduction ofgas emissions and waste, and improvement of energy
efficiency.
According to Solomon Associates, a company that

Right: Mr. Hussain M. Al-Ishaq, Director Refining,
Refining–Directorate
Left: Mr. Morihiro Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP

36 • Technical Cooperation •measures the energy efficiency of worldwide refineries
every other year, Qatar’s Energy Intensity Index (EII)
indicates that it has room for more improvementcompared to other Middle East/GCC countries. QP
therefore regards energy efficiency improvement as oneof its priority issues.
The project will apply refinery technologies andadvanced energy conservation technologies that Japan
has cultivated over many years, to assess the energy
usage situation in the Mesaieed Refinery and to explore
its potential for energy conservation through waste
heat utilization and refining process modifications.
It will also survey the state of corrosion and foulingin refinery facilities and examine the technical issues
and economic efficiency of applying Japan’s provencorrosion technologies to the Mesaieed Refinery.
Ultimately, it aims to establish countermeasures
for reducing opportunities lost by the shutdown ofoperations and preventing accidents caused by problems
stemming from material corrosion and fouling. In thearea of operational efficiency improvement, a numberof studies and projects have so far been implemented at
the Mesaieed Refinery with the participation of Cosmo
Engineering. They included a study of facilities torecover LPG from flare gas that is burned and released
to the atmosphere from refining facilities, and studies
on countermeasures for NOx contained in exhaust gas
and measures for operational efficiency (maximizationof throughput oil, etc.). QP is currently exploring waysof applying the results of these projects and studies toactual situations.
The new QP-JCCP joint project will be implemented
as part of QP’s HSE program. Prior to its signingceremony, Messrs. Al-Ishaq and Al-Khoori articulated
their appreciation of JCCP for delivering many survey
achievements during the past several years through
JCCP programs, and also expressed their expectationand confidence that the new project will also produce
significant results. Ambassador Kitazume stated that
Qatar and Japan are “linked by a relationship based on

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

energy supply and economic cooperation,” and voiced
his expectation that the new JCCP project would further
deepen cooperative ties between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Mr. Yoshida assured QP that JCCP will
provide follow-up support of the previous project on
efficiency improvement in the Mesaieed Refinery andwill contribute to developing the technical capacities ofrefining engineers through the project, and promised
JCCP’s full cooperation in achieving those goals. Mr.
Hirajo, as director of a subsidiary company of Cosmo
Oil, which has become a QP shareholder by investing

Project agreementin the Laffan Refinery, asserted the Cosmo Oil Group’s
strong commitment “to deepen technical exchanges with
QP in the future” as it engages in the new project andworks to deliver consistent results.
On the day after the signing ceremony, Mr. Yoshida,
Mr. Hirajo, and other members of the Japanese delegation
visited the Mesaieed Refinery and inspected its facilities,
thus completing the agenda of the signing ceremony.
Overview of the Planned Project
1. Project implementation period
April 1, 2010 – March 31, 2012 (two-year project)
2. Host refinery
QP Mesaieed Refinery
3. Participating company
Cosmo Engineering Co., Ltd.
4. Project goals– To examine and propose measures for energy
efficiency improvement in refinery operations– To examine facility corrosion and fouling andpropose countermeasures
5. Project details:– The installation of an air pre-heater in the furnace
will be examined and proposed, for the recoveryof heat from furnace fuel gas.
– The processes involved in the utilization of anamine solution will be examined and proposed.
– Measures for preventing corrosion/fouling in
the condensate distillation column, diesel oilhydrodesulfurization unit, and continuous catalytic
reformer will be examined and proposed.
<by Takeyoshi Haishima, Technical Cooperation Dept.>

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

• Technical Cooperation • 37

TechnicalCooperation

Commencement of
the TAKREER Research Centre Project,
Phase II
—Signing Ceremony Held in UAE—

UAE is pursuing a national policy for
employment creation and human resource
development of the younger generation.
Under this policy, Abu Dhabi Oil Refining
Company (TAKREER), an affiliate of Abu
Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC),
has been strongly seeking to establish atechnology center to enable it to develop
capacities to solve technical issues related torefinery management and to upgrade its oil
refining technologies as a future leader in oil
refining and facility management technologies
among the GCC countries.
Meeting held after the signing ceremony: (from left)
The TAKREER Research Centre (TRC)
Mr. Jasem Ali Al-Sayegh, General Manager of TAKREER;
Mr. Morihiro Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP;
Project was approved by H.E. Yousef Omair
Mr. Setsuo Ohmori, Japanese Minister to UAE; andBin Yousef, Chief Executive Officer, in
Mr. Shigeki Nakashima, Managing Executive Officer of Idemitsu Kosan
FY2005, and was thereafter launched withthe cooperation of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.
By leveraging Idemitsu Kosan’s wealth of technical at the TAKREER Head Office. As a continuation of theexpertise regarding research center operations, the previous TRC establishment project, the Phase II projectproject aims to provide support for the designing of R&D will send Japanese instructors and advisors to TRC as
facilities and the installation of laboratory instruments in required to help establish long-term stable operations
the research center, as well as for the establishment of the of the pilot plant installed in the previous project, andorganizational framework, functions, and management to transfer analysis procedures for data acquired fromtechnologies of the center and the development of the pilot plant and evaluation technologies for new andresearch center personnel. Phase I of the project was spent catalysts used there. Through the technical transfer,
launched in FY2006 and was completed at the end of the project aims to provide technical support that would
March 2010, after having achieved its original objectives ultimately allow TRC to improve refinery operationsof formulating safety measures regarding the handling and optimize the refinery on its own. The transfer ofof dangerous high-pressure substances during the the necessary technologies will be conducted throughconstruction of the research center building, providing on-the-job training, to also promote the development
support for designing a rational equipment layout plan of TRC personnel.
The signing ceremony was held in stately splendor
that takes pilot plant operations into consideration, andat the TAKREER Head Office, with the attendance of
supporting the introduction of analytical instruments.
The subsequent stage of the project was recently Mr. Al-Sayegh and the deputy general manager andlaunched anew as the TAKREER Research Centre Project, executive officers under him; the director of TRC;
Phase II. Prior to kicking off the project, Mr. Jasem Ali Mr. Setsuo Ohmori, Japanese Minister to UAE; andAl-Sayegh, General Manager, and Mr. Morihiro Yoshida, Mr. Shigeki Nakashima, Managing Executive Officer,
Managing Director of JCCP, signed the Memorandum of and Mr. Yoshikuni Yamakawa, Executive Officer, from
Agreement (MOA) for the project on October 18, 2010 Idemitsu Kosan. In the opening statement, the UAE side
38 • Technical Cooperation •JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

emphasized that the human resource development of
UAE workers is the country’s foremost important issue,
and UAE is therefore placing great expectation on thedevelopment of its personnel through the TRC project.
The Japanese side noted that JCCP receives many
participants from UAE to its regular courses and has
implemented a number of technical cooperation projects
with UAE beside this TRC project, and pledged to devote
every effort to building technical capacities in refining
engineers and thereby contribute to human resource
development in UAE through JCCP programs.
It is hoped that the implementation of this project willfurther deepen friendly ties between UAE and Japan,
and that the transfer of Japan’s operation and evaluation
technologies for oil refining equipment will contribute to
the development of oil refining technologies and humanresource development in UAE.
On the day after the project signing ceremony, Mr.
Yoshida, Mr. Nakashima, and other members of theJapanese delegation visited the TAKREER ResearchCentre to inspect its laboratory facilities, thus completingthe agenda of the signing ceremony.
The following is an outline of the TAKREER
Research Centre Project, Phase II.

Overview of the Planned Project
1. Project implementation period:
April 1, 2010 – March 31, 2013 (three-year project)
2. Host facility: TAKREER Research Centre
3. Participating company: Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.
4. Project details:(1) Advisors and instructors will be dispatched to TRC
to provide support for long-term stable operationsof the pilot plant and operational guidance ofanalytical instruments (on-the-job training).
(2) The correlation between operating data acquired
from an actual unit and that acquired from thepilot plant will be established, and support will
be provided for the transfer of catalyst evaluation
technology for catalysts used in the pilot plant andfor the creation of a reaction simulation system.
(3) The technologies and procedures for achieving
operational improvement and optimizationof actual refinery units will be transferred to
TRC through the transfer of catalyst evaluation
technologies.
(4) Support will be provided for human resource
development and TRC operations through theabove transfer of technologies.
<by Takeyoshi Haishima, Technical Cooperation Dept.>

The completed TAKREER Research Centre• Constructed on the site of the Petroleum Institute, locatedin the eastern suburbs of Abu Dhabi• Building area: approx. 2,200 m2, 3 stories• Construction began in April 2008 and was completed inlate April 2009; Ownership was transferred to TAKREER in
early August 2009

JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011

Project agreement• Technical Cooperation • 39

Personnel Changes
Outgoing Personnel

Incoming Personnel

Yasuki TAZAWA

Shigeru MATSUI

Training
Department

Japan Cooperation Center, Petroleum (JCCP)
Headquarters
Sunshine 60 Building 58F, 3-1-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-6058, Japan• Administration Department• Operations Department• Training Department• Technical Cooperation Department

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40 • Announcement •• Riyadh Office
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JCCP NEWS No. 108 January 2011