Offshore: Nippon Foundation, Deepstar Sign MOU

Japan's Nippon Foundation and Deepstar signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) recently which essentially will allow Japan
to tap the expertise and resources of DeepStar to help Japan
discover and recover new-found subsea resources, as well as
educate future generations of Japanese.
The MOU was signed on May 1, 2018 at the Hotel ZaZa in Houston,
and speaking at the event Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei
Sasakawa said "We need to acquire the resources to discover and
reach (our) natural resources. There is no question that Houton
is the hub of space exploration, but ehere are two other areas
of clear leadership: baseball and the World Champion Houston
Astros, and offshore energy."
In an interview with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
before the signing, Chairman Sasakawa said that there were two
significant points in the signing of the MOU with Deepstar: one
is "hands-on" and surrounding the discovery and recovery of
natural resources off of Japan, "which as you know are scarce;
but there have been recent discoveries of some rare metals" off
the shores of Japan. "At the same time we do not have the means
or the technology to extract those resouces. This capability is
something that Japan will have to acquire as soon as possible
to leverage those available resources."
While Japan is a technology leader in robotics and artificial
intelligence, the same cannot be said for its offshore energy
business. The plan is for the Deepstar relationship to
facilitate intelligence transfer for Japan's next generation.
DeepStar is a joint industry technology development project
focused on advancing the technologies to meet its members'
deepwater business needs to deliver increased production and
reserves.
May 9, 2018