After a six-year hiatus, Japan Cooperation Center, Petroleum (JCCP), provider of development programs in oil-producing nations, has resumed operations in Iran's energy sector.
JCCP has already completed a training course in Iran in a reboot of ties that can lead to greater cooperation, ranging from oil-related training courses to conducting research and technical studies to sponsoring international conferences and seminars in the country, Mehr News Agency reported.
Japan is quickly rebuilding economic and trade ties with Iran after sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation were officially lifted in January.
Known as a traditional buyer of Iran's crude, Japan has extended its oil import contract for 2016.
“JCCP hopes to collaborate with Iranian oil companies by holding training courses in Iran’s refinery industry,” JCCPM Managing Director Tsuyoshi Nakai said on the sidelines of a training event for Iranian refineries’ workforce.
Established in 1981, JCCP has worked in many countries, including Iran’s western neighbor Iraq, with which it signed an agreement on technology cooperation for lube oil production in 2013, in addition to helping the Arab country with total productive maintenance under a refinery maintenance management program.
Nakai held negotiations last week with Rokneddin Javadi, the head of National Iranian Oil Company, over bilateral cooperation on oil industry’s educational courses, human resource management, marketing and distribution of crude oil and byproducts as well as finance.
The Japanese company has so far trained more than 1,400 Iranian workforce, but sanctions forced it to scrap operations in 2011. Saeed Mahjoubi, National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company's director for coordination and supervision, said earlier this month that the state-owned company had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Japanese firm to minimize mazut production in Tehran Oil Refinery.
Mahjoubi added that the unnamed firm was taking steps to raise the quality of Iran's petroleum products to match the Euro-4 emission standard.
Mazut is a heavy, low quality fuel oil used in power plants and other similar applications. It is more polluting compared to other fuels such as diesel and natural gas.
Iran's underinvested refineries produce a huge amount of mazut due to largely dilapidated infrastructure and aging technology.
