The 29th Annual Saudi-Japan Symposium was held at KFUPM Dhahran Techno Valley on November 3 and 4, 2019, jointly hosted by 4 entities: Saudi Aramco, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), The Japan Petroleum Institute (JPI) and JCCP.
In the opening, honorable guests presented their remarks. Notably, H.E. Dr. Sahel Abuduljauwad, Rector of KFUPM, Mr. Ahmed Al-Khowaiter, CTO of Saudi Aramco, Mr. Eiji Hiraoka, Senior Executive Director of JCCP and Dr. Keiichi Tomishige, The Captain of The Japan Petroleum Institute (JPI) of delegation and Professor of Tohoku University. In the Keynote Speech, Dr. Jinichi Igarashi. Vice President of JPI and President of JX Research, gave a lecture.
The symposium attracted an unusually large audience of more than 140 researchers, students and Japanese companies’ representatives in the region. The symposium theme of this year was “Technology in Petroleum Refining & Petrochemicals” and there were 23 presentations (of which 6 were made by Japanese presenters sent for this symposium). The symposium covers new fields ranging from catalyst development by utilizing AI, Crude oil to Chemicals process etc. Among the lecturers, female researchers made lectures, and posters session a noteworthy event in the symposium’s long history. Between presenters and audience, many active questions and answers were exchanged.
Prior to the symposium, six speakers attended ChemIndix 2019 held in Bahrain on October 29-31 at the request of Saudi Aramco. JPI Igarashi Vice Chairman participated in the panel discussion, and five speakers gave lectures at each session, and there was a lively exchange of questions and answers.