JCCP activities for fiscal 2017 were implemented as planned, and their initial quantitative goals were achieved despite the drastic 16% reduction in the budget for government subsidized businesses compared to the previous year.

The standing business implementation policy to contribute to ensuring a stable oil supply was augmented by the policy to provide support for product export expansion and overseas business expansion toward strengthening the competitiveness of Japan’s oil industry.

These policies were achieved in the form of increases in the numbers of training program participants and technical cooperation projects related to Southeast Asian countries that are the major destinations of overseas expansion by Japanese companies.

Initiatives were also taken to further expand and

A total of 21 regular courses were implemented under the scheme for HRD programs in Japan conducted directly by JCCP. They consisted of 4 courses on strategic marketing and project management; 4 courses on human resources, financial accounting and distribution; 2 courses on the environment, new energies and energy conservation; 1 course on safety management; 3 courses on process and power generation technologies; 5 courses on maintenance; and 2 courses on instrumentation control.

Special programs on specific themes were also implemented in response to individual requests and needs from Middle East oil producing countries, countries in Southeast Asia, and oil-producing countries that are expected to be new sources of energy supply. In fiscal 2017, 6 such programs were held in Japan for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Vietnam, Myanmar, etc., and 4 were held in UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Myanmar, etc.

Under the fiscal 2017 researcher dispatch program, one researcher each was dispatched to Saudi Arabia (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals) and Kuwait (Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research) for a total of three months, as the same as last year. Under the fiscal 2017 research invitation program, one researcher each from Saudi Arabia

[Technical cooperation projects]

Technical cooperation projects are implemented to help solve technical issues that the oil downstream sector and other oil industry sectors face in oil/gas-producing countries, such as through the transfer of Japan’s technologies and expertise and the joint development of technologies with oil-producing countries. In fiscal 2017, technical cooperation projects were implemented in three stages while carefully verifying their appropriateness at each stage. The first stage consisted of 3 project finding surveys

International cooperation programs aim to promote and strengthen information exchanges and personal relationships by holding various international conferences.

In January 2018, the 36th JCCP International Symposium

Thematic joint symposiums are held at the request of a country or organization as a joint effort in Japan or the relevant country, with the objectives of widely disseminating Japan’s advanced technologies and research achievements and promoting information exchanges with the counterpart country.

In September 2017, Saudi Aramco and JCCP joint held a symposium in Tokyo under the theme of “The Global Perspective of the Hydrogen Economy.” Twenty-one speakers (including five from Saudi Aramco) and an audience of approximately 130 participants discussed and exchanged information on the overall status of initiatives for a hydrogen society, ranging from the production to transfer of hydrogen, including the CCS process, to hydrogen demand.

In November 2017, ADNOC and JCCP jointly held a workshop on water resources management in ADNOC’s SKEC Auditorium. Featuring 22 presentations that included nine speakers from Japan, an active exchange of information took place on such issues as water management, seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, water recycling and treatment of associated water, with the participation of an audience of approximately 100 people.

Also in November 2017, the 27th Saudi Arabia-Japan Joint Symposium was held under the theme of “Technology in Petroleum Refining & Petrochemicals” (joint sponsorship by Saudi Aramco, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Japan Petroleum Institute (JPI) and JCCP) in an auditorium at KFUPM in Saudi Arabia. Featuring 20 presentations that included six speakers from Japan, an active exchange of views on various technologies was held with an audience of approximately 100 people. There were as many as seven female participants in the audience for the first time since the symposium was launched in 1992.

JCCP has overseas offices in al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, UAE. The al-Khobar office has transferred from its former location in Riyadh in March 2016.

Each office is in charge of a group of Middle East countries. The al-Khobar office is in charge of affairs in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain, and the Abu Dhabi office is in charge of affairs in UAE, Qatar, Oman and Iran.

The principle roles of these overseas offices are to provide local support on projects being implemented in the countries that are under their charge and to collect relevant information about the countries.