The world dreamed of by Japan's "oil king" July 5, 19:42

In May, a farewell party for a unique business owner who tried to formulate a strategy based on the shocking prospect that oil demand would be cut in half while operating the largest gas station network in Japan. It was opened.

Fumiaki Watari, an honorary adviser to ENEOS Holdings, a major oil wholesaler.

He was involved in the reorganization of a petroleum wholesale company, and was familiarly called by reporters as the "king of oil."

Now that we have survived the era of oil heyday and are entering an era of turbulent decarbonization, what kind of management strategy did Watari, who was always looking ahead, come up with?

I'm not the only one I wanted to ask.

* Honorific title omitted (Masumi Nagata, reporter of the Ministry of Economic Affairs)

Severity and brightness

What kind of person was Watari?

Tsutomu Sugimori, Chairman of ENEOS Holdings, responded to the interview.

Chairman Sugimori

"I was a boss who was strict about work anyway. When Mr. Watari became a managing director, he was told to come early in the morning and wait on the day of the managing meeting. It's detailed and detailed. When I gave a poor lecture, I was nervous because I rushed into the details. "

Many people say that Watari was impatient.

Sugimori, who will give a lecture, would have been nervous and prepared.

On the other hand, Sugimori was also known for his friendly personality, as he often said that he played golf together and drank alcohol.

I talked to reporters roughly, and at that time, I named the "solar cell", "storage battery", and "household fuel cell" businesses, which were trying to become new pillars of management, as "three battery brothers" and actively promoted them. I appealed to you.

It is said that the industry reorganization was the one where the power of the transfer was most demonstrated.

At the center of industry restructuring

The name of the company Watari worked for changed many times.

After joining "Nippon Oil" in 1960, "Nippon Oil", "Nippon Oil", "JX Holdings", "JXTG Holdings", and now "ENEOS Holdings".

Nippon Oil, which was the second largest in the industry, merged with Mitsubishi Oil in 1999 to become "Nisseki Mitsubishi" and became the first in the industry, but was deeply involved in this merger as an officer.

The following year, Wataru became president.

In 2010, he led the business integration with Nippon Mining Holdings, which owns Japan Energy, which is known for its JOMO brand gas stations.

The company name was changed to JX Holdings.

After that, the company merged with TonenGeneral Sekiyu, the third largest in the industry, in 2017.

Sugimori recalls that "foresight".

Chairman Sugimori

"What will we allocate our management resources to in preparation for an era when oil demand will be halved? Industry restructuring is both a survival strategy and necessary for major structural reforms in the future."

Wataru, who promotes an aggressive restructuring strategy, has come to be called the "Oil King" by reporters in charge.

Many economic reporters watched over the next move with a sigh.

Mr. Wataru

"Next is a comprehensive energy company by integrating three companies, a major electric power company and a major gas company."

Many reporters were taken aback when they heard that Watari gave a specific company name and raised an integrated concept that he could not tell whether he was serious or joking.

Facing environmental problems

What prompted Watari to reorganize the industry was a strong sense of crisis in the winter era of the oil industry.

In 1997, the "Kyoto Protocol" was adopted.

Developed countries are obliged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Furthermore, with the spread of hybrid vehicles, the fuel efficiency of automobiles has improved steadily, and domestic oil demand has been declining since 1999.

By the way, oil demand in 2019 has fallen to two-thirds of that time.

There is a true event that symbolizes Watari's "foresight."

In 2003, the then governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, regarded the sulfur content of light oil as a cause of air pollution in the capital, Tokyo.

Implemented its own diesel vehicle regulations.

Many people will remember Ishihara appealing for a PET bottle containing black soot.

Wataru, who was the president of Nippon Oil and the chairman of the industry group "Petroleum Association of Japan," moved immediately.

Responding to the environment with rising production costs is not an easy task for the industry.

However, we called on the industry to invest hundreds of billions of yen in R & D and capital investment as a whole.

The company decided to sell light oil and gasoline, which are called "sulfur-free" and contain almost no harmful sulfur, nationwide by accelerating the conventional plan by two to three years.

Ishihara praised Wataru, who came to the report, saying, "Thank you for your decision."

After that, when "the era of hydrogen is coming," he will take the lead in decarbonizing.

"Cool" energy

The title of the book Watari wrote in 2010 is "Cool Energy Revolution that Opens the Future."

"Cool" or "cool" energy is, according to Watari, hydrogen.

Hydrogen is considered to be one of the favorite candidates for energy in the decarbonization era.

In addition to automobile fuel, each country is now embarking on full-scale technological development as fuel for aircraft and thermal power generation.

Watari put particular effort into commercializing a "fuel cell" that extracts hydrogen from gas to generate electricity.

Chairman Sugimori:

"Even if Wataru said that it was hydrogen, it didn't come to the forefront in the industry or in the company at that time. That was the voice of Wataru Tsuru, who decided to launch the fuel cell business for home use at once. In the end, it was unprofitable and I decided to withdraw from the household fuel cell business after I became president. Still, Watari said, "Never stop hydrogen. It will definitely be the leading role in the future. The era of hydrogen I was told to come. "

Passing message

In his later years, Watari served as the chairman of his alma mater, Seijo Gakuen, and also focused on education.

This time, I got a handwritten document that bursts with a passion for education.

How will the school survive as the birthrate declines and severe rough waves rush to the educational field?

It is said that it is a memo that he wrote himself.

There were a number of words written in a brush stroke that burst into my mind.

As "human resources required by the times," he declared that he was "human resources who would change society and create the future."

He also wrote that "the ability to change things with unprecedented ideas without being bound by existing concepts and the surrounding environment."

It is said that the school executives discussed the school while pondering the meaning of each word in this document.

I found such a word in it.

I

would like to engrave the message left by Wataru, who continued to show foresight after reading the era

when "opening up the path that you believe in is the driving force for social development

."

Reporter of the Ministry of Economic Affairs

Masumi Nagata

Joined the

Ministry of

Economic Affairs in

2012

After working at the Akita Bureau and the Sapporo Bureau

, interviewed the Ministry

of

Economy, Trade and Industry and the energy industry.