The new year 2024 began with suffering from a major earthquake on the Noto Peninsula, marking a tumultuous start. We express our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in this earthquake and earnestly hope for the swift recovery of the daily lives of everyone affected.

More than a year and a half has passed since I assumed the presidency. Reflecting back to my message from June 2022, it's clear that geopolitical risks to our energy supply have intensified, particularly due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. This situation continues to threaten our country's access to stable energy resources.

Regarding the transition to a carbon-neutral (CN) society, the selection of an 'advanced Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project' last year, with plans to commence in 2030, marks a significant step forward in our CN efforts.

In light of the recent changes in the business environment, the JAPT newly established its vision in June as follows;
“The development of oil and natural gas is grounded in the accumulation of critical and advanced technologies. These technologies are also positioned to play a pivotal role in ensuring the stable supply of energy in the future. Moreover, the expertise gained in oil and natural gas exploration is now being transferred to other domains such as geothermal energy development and CCS, which involve dealing with subsurface fluids. 

In this context, not only continuing to refine oil and gas technologies, but also looking ahead to applying those technologies to broader domains involving subsurface structures and fluids, the JAPT is committed to engage in promoting the acquisition of essential technologies among its members through information sharing and educational initiatives beyond traditional realms.”

This vision outlines our pathway up to around 2030 and will guide our immediate actions. Accordingly, a CCS Committee was launched in September last year as a new step in our activities. Emphasizing our core strengths in subsurface technologies, we initially focus on CO2 storage, planning to broaden our scope to include capture and transportation. 

In analogy to the notion that “deepening knowledge” and “exploring knowledge” are essential for innovation, the JAPT has been sharing cutting-edge insights over each technical expertise through committee activities, symposiums, and published papers and reports, indeed serving as a venue for “exploiting knowledge.”

Moreover, as we expanded our efforts into CCS last year, we welcomed new members from beyond the oil and natural gas industry. As our vision suggests, networking and collaboration with people from different domains are crucial when venturing into new industries, such as CCS. These are key to “exploring new knowledge”, and the JAPT provides the necessary platform with system already in place for people to meet and exchange information and opinions.
We really hope you will make the most of this platform.

Our association celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2023. The commemorative ceremony is scheduled to be held after the general meeting at the University of Tokyo Hongo Campus in June this year. Additionally, as part of our anniversary projects, we plan to publish special issues related to CCS.

We sincerely ask for your continued support and cooperation with our association.


As of June 7, 2022, I am proud to have become president of the Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology (JAPT). In assuming the position of the president of this association, I am keenly aware of my great responsibility and in this sense would like to pay tribute to Dr. Iwata, the former president who has successfully fulfilled his important role for the last two years.

Looking back on the past two years, the coronavirus infection forced us to switch our activities from face-to-face to remote style, and the form of communication between us changed significantly. Under these circumstances, we have held our conferences incorporating live streaming and videos on demand through trial and error. Fortunately, in June 2022, the corona infection situation settled down, and we were very pleased to be able to hold hybrid-style Annual Technical Conference where participants enjoyed actual events for the first time in three years.

From now, we will be in the so-called “ with-coronavirus” era, where we are wary of the spread of coronavirus infection and at the same time we are trying to move things forward with care. I believe that the Annual Technical Conference in June that successfully ended in hybrid style will be the first step in managing our activities toward “ with-coronavirus”. We will continue to utilize remote technology to make our activities more fulfilled. In parallel, we will do our best to improve other member services as well as financial balance of the association.

One of the biggest changes in the E&P business environment is a recent accelerating trend to a decarbonized / carbon-neutral society. The E & P technologies have been so far applied to the CCS / CCUS and geothermal fields to some extent, Since the end of October 2020, when the former prime minister Mr. Suga made a statement that he would "achieve carbon neutrality by 2050", Japanese companies and universities have been accelerating their efforts toward decarbonization and carbon neutrality. JAPT covered the trend in Autumn Lecture Meeting in 2021 entitled "Issues in the Petroleum Development Industry for the Transition to a Decarbonized Society".
We will continue to take up any issues that reflects the times for our discussion for the future.

Since 2022, there have been cases of major changes in the geopolitical risks of the world, and there is no sign yet that they will be settled. Due to the increased geopolitical risks, the structure of energy supply and demand has changed drastically, and the economic situation has begun to have a tremendous impact. In addition, electric power shortages that do not necessarily depend on the international situation are becoming apparent. With such a strong awareness of risks at national level concerning a stable global energy supply and Japan's energy security, we will refocus attention to the role of our E & P industry and how to harmonize it with the movement toward decarbonization is recognized as a pressing issue for our future.

JAPT will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2023. We would like to continue further advance E&P technologies that we have developed over a long history and provide with opportunities where we can discuss major changes of the times and the future of our industry. To enhance the discussion of our way forward, we will expand networking with people outside our industry.

Finally, I would like to ask all JAPT members for their continued support and cooperation.

Best Regards,

Yasuhiko Kotera
President