Saudi Arabia is indisputably the world’s greatest producer of crude oil (approx. 11 million b/d (2006 BP statistics)), with its Ghawar Oil Field said to contain the world’s largest crude oil reserve. As a major supplier of crude oil, Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), the country’s state-run oil company, is, and will continue to be, a dominating presence in the global crude oil market. Today, Saudi Arabian crude accounts for roughly 30% of Japan’s total crude oil imports (approx.72.91 million KL/year (2006 statistics of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy)), making Saudi Arabia Japan’s leading supplier of crude oil.

For Japan to secure a stable supply of crude oil, Saudi Arabia is certainly becoming ever more important to Japan. Yet, no JCCP-initiated Expert Service (ES) programs have been implemented in the country for close to 20 years, since 1988. Seeking to establish a closer relationship with Saudi Aramco, Mr. Mikio Kojima, Executive Director of JCCP, approached Mr. Abdulaziz F. Al-Khayyal, Senior Vice President, Refining, Marketing & International, last January, and held a policy dialogue on future JCCP cooperation. As a result of the meeting, the two leaders agreed to commence working-level consultations on the implementation of a tailor-made program at Saudi Aramco. Soon thereafter, Mr. Abdul Majeed H. G., Supervisor, Human Resources Development, who is JCCP’s counterpart at Saudi Aramco, participated in a JCCP Program Seminar held in July 2007, so JCCP took the opportunity of his visit to Japan to discuss the tailor-made program in detail. In response to Saudi Aramco’s request for a seminar on refinery plant maintenance, JCCP organized and implemented the seminar from February 28 to March 7, 2008.

Members from Japan included four lecturers from the JCCP Training Department (Messrs. Shintaro Miyawaki, Akio Higashi,Kazumasa Nakazawa, and Fumihiro Tone) and an external expert (Mr. Naomi Fujisawa, Shin Nippon Machinery Co., Ltd. Kure Works). The members each lectured on a specific topic.

As a matter worthy of special mention, the seminar was honored to receive a speech by Mr. Kojima, who had also been visiting Saudi Aramco at that time. Mr. Kojima’s speech presented a rare opportunity for the participants to reaffirm the significance of JCCP activities and the importance of the cooperative relationship between JCCP and Saudi Aramco.

The Ras Tanura Refinery is Saudi Aramco’s largest refinery, located on the east coast of Saudi Arabia, and Ras Tanura Port is known as a major port from which crude oil from the world’s largest Ghawar Oil Field is shipped to the world. Crude oil tankers bound for Japan also leave from this port.

The seminar took place in an auditorium in the HRD (Human Resource Development) Department building, located in close proximity to the Ras Tanura Refinery, with the attendance of 22 personnel from all the 5 refineries belonging to Saudi Aramco, including those on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Abdul Majeed, JCCP’s counterpart at Saudi Aramco, gave his full cooperation to the seminar, from making all the necessary arrangements, to attending to the JCCP team during their stay in Saudi Arabia.

The seminar venue was located in a corner of Najmah Camp, at the tip of a large peninsula far removed from the city center. The camp also provided simple yet clean and comfortable accommodations for the Japanese lecturers. The seminar began and proceeded smoothly as planned, thanks to efficient preparations for receiving the JCCP lecturers and seminar participants, as well as for processing identification procedures and other paperwork, and was able to successfully achieve its intended purpose.

The seminar was originally planned to cover three lecture topics (3 days), but in response to a strong request from Mr. Fareed Z. Kamfar, RT Refinery Maintenance Manager, during preliminary discussions, two more topics (2 days) were added (diagnosis, inspection, and repair of main rotary equipment, and refinery safety management), and adjustments were made with respect to the selection of an external lecturer. After selecting an external lecturer and making the necessary arrangements with the cooperating company, the seminar was re-scheduled to cover a five-day period (extending the seminar duration) featuring one lecture presentation a day, by different lecturers.

The seminar covered the following lecture topics.

• Day 1: Rotary machinery maintenance management
• Day 2: Essential technology and maintenance of rotating machines
• Day 3: Maintenance management of Japanese Refinery
• Day 4: Static equipment trouble & counter measures in Japan
• Day 5: Refinery activities for safety management

The implementation of the JCCP-initiative ES seminar for the first time in roughly 20 years was largely made possible by the generous support of Mr. Fareed Z. Kamfar, RT Refinery Maintenance Manager, and Mr. Abdul Majeed, JCCP's counterpart at Saudi Aramco. Their valuable advice and cooperation, from the preparations of the seminar to its proceedings, were greatly instrumental to the successful completion of the seminar. JCCP extends its deepest appreciation and gratitude to them.

In terms of the fact that the seminar period coincided with Mr. Kojima’s meeting with the head of the Ras Tanura Refinery, that Mr. Kojima delivered a message at the seminar in person and boosted the participants’ motivation, and that the timing of the seminar was ideal for promoting JCCP activities to the Ras Tanura Refinery, which is considered to be the central facility of Saudi Aramco, the seminar provided the perfect ending to the FY2007 programs.

With the implementation of this seminar, JCCP has added another page to its long history of cooperation activities, and sees this achievement as an indication of a bright future. In this respect, JCCP sincerely hopes that the success of this seminar will lead to the further development of customized programs in the future.

Lastly, JCCP would like to extend its deepest appreciation to everyone who generously cooperated in the planning and implementation of the seminar. Thank you very much.