This fiscal year, JCCP has begun promoting customized training programs that respond to specific needs of oil-producing countries to respond to a request from PEMEX, Mexico’s state-run oil company, from October 16 to 19, 2007, a JCCP team composed of Messrs. S. Miyawaki, K. Nakazawa, and A. Higashi of the JCCP Training Department’s maintenance group visited the Minatitlán Refinery in Mexico to conduct a seminar on refinery maintenance management.

The seminar was designed to mainly introduce various maintenance management issues that the JCCP lecturers have experienced at Japanese refineries and examples of countermeasures to those issues. It specifically featured 3 topics: reliability management in refineries, static equipment damage and its countermeasures, and maintenance management of rotary machines.

Mr. Antonio Hernandez Escobar, Manager of the Production Unit and second highest-ranking member of the refinery staff, gave a brief speech at the opening ceremony, and expressed his appreciation and expectations of the seminar. He also delivered a few words at the closing ceremony, thanking JCCP for the successful and productive implementation of the seminar, and encouraging the participants to actively apply the knowledge they have acquired from the seminar to their respective workplace.

During the seminar and particularly during the subsequent Q&A session, the participants posed so many questions, that the lecturers were barely able to respond to them all. The majority of the questions pertained to compelling issues facing refineries today and the differences between maintenance methods in Mexico and Japan. The general trend of the questions appeared to indicate the participants’ increasing concerns on the need to secure long-term, continuous safe/stable operations while reducing maintenance costs, which is a common issue for maintenance departments in refineries around the world today.

A total of 30 participants attended the seminar. In addition to members from the Minatitlán Refinery, 2 members each from the PEMEX Head Office and the Salamanca, Cadereyta, and Salina Cruz Refineries also participated.

The seminar was conducted through Spanish/English simultaneous translation. Thanks to the translator’s having prepared for the seminar by reading the presentation materials in advance, the exchange of information through presentations and Q&A sessions proceeded extremely smoothly.

At the end of the seminar, the participants responded to a questionnaire, in which they rated the seminar "very beneficial," and commented that what they have learned would be useful in their present / future jobs.

After completion of the seminar, the JCCP team paid a courtesy call on the PEMEX Head Office, and met with members of the personnel department, the counterpart department for JCCP programs.

Mr. Sergio Juan Ortiz Bautista, Jefe de la Unidad, warmly greeted the team, and expressed his appreciation for the implementation of the seminar. Mr. Bautista also spoke about his thoughts on the necessity of strengthening the capacities of refinery engineers and developing outstanding engineers for the future. In this respect, he stated that he holds great expectations of JCCP training activities, as they provide first-hand experience in the industries and technologies of Japan, which he considers one of the world's most successful countries, and wishes to continue sending PEMEX employees to participate in JCCP courses.