Selection as the FY2015 Nadeshiko Brand

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd. (hereafter "JAPEX") announces that JAPEX was selected as one of the FY2015 Nadeshiko Brand enterprises by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

The Nadeshiko Brand consists of enterprises which encourage women to play active roles in the workplace (1. conducting career support for women, and 2. supporting women in balancing work and family), and which were selected from enterprises of the first section and the second section of TSE, Mothers, and JASDAQ. The Nadeshiko Brand program was inaugurated in FY2012, aiming to promote the attractive enterprises to investors who regard "increase of the corporate value in medium to long term" as important, and accelerate these enterprises' activities.

JAPEX has set a goal of tripling the percentage of female managers from 3.4% as of October 2014 by 2020 in the Long Term Business Vision and Medium-term Business Plan announced in May 2015. JAPEX has established the Diversity Promotion Group in HR (Human Resource) Department on March 2015 prior to the announcement of the Vision and Plan, and the group have been driving diversity activities including encouraging women's successes.

JAPEX has driven diversity activities including encouraging women's success on FY2015 as follows:

1. Summer Campaign for Workstyle Transformation

During July to September 2015, JAPEX has ran a "Summer Campaign for Workstyle Transformation" for improving overtime working and raising corporate awareness of work-life balance to create corporate culture in which employees can continue working while working two-income, providing nursing care or raising children.

1. Detail of Campaign
   1. Allowing voluntary choice of early morning work hours
   2. Prohibiting to work after 9 pm in principle
   3. Encouraging to take times of communication and concentration
   4. Encouraging to take paid holidays by setting recommended holiday period in the company
   5. Holding "Time Management Seminars"
   6. Launched internal blogs written by employees in Intranet to exchange knowledge and idea concerning workstyle

2. Career Sessions "Woman@J"

From October 2015 to February 2016, JAPEX has conducted monthly career session named "Woman@J" to learn career development and time management in both work and personal life through talking and discussions about experiences of JAPEX's female managers or role-changed female employees. These session hold at our headquarter office in Tokyo, and many employees joined from Hokkaido, Akita, Nagaoka offices via teleconferencing system in addition to headquarter. And we also encouraged male managers who have subordinate women as well as female managers and employees to join these sessions.

3. Further Activities

In order to promote diversity continuously and leverage effectively, JAPEX determined "JAPEX Diversity Policy" in January 2016. Based on this policy, we will continue to recruit and promote women, foreigners, and other diverse human resources, and we will revise our HR systems appropriately in order to promote successful work of all each employee. Moreover, we will hold training on diversity, work-life balance and career development, and awareness events. With such activities, JAPEX will actively promote corporate culture that respects diversity.