The 15th Kuwait-Japan Joint Symposium was held on January 20 and 21, 2014 under joint organization by Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) and Japan Petroleum Institute (JPI). The symposium has been held annually in Kuwait, initially with KISR as partner, and with the addition of speakers from KNPC from the 5th symposium. At this year’s symposium, the number of speakers from KNPC surpassed the number from KISR for the first time. Furthermore, speakers from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and a catalyst company in Kuwait also gave presentations, and contributed to the diversity of the symposium with the participation of both researchers and business operators.
The Japanese side not only presented technical papers, but also captured the interest of Kuwaiti companies with even more practical presentations themed on “advancements in petroleum refining processes,” which included the troubleshooting of actual cases of manufacturing facility corrosion in the refinery and procedures for operational optimization.