Fumiaki Watari, former chief of what is now Eneos Holdings Inc. and former chairman of the Petroleum Association of Japan, died late last month of a stroke, the company said Monday. He was 84.

As vice president of the then Nippon Oil Corp., Watari led a merger with its rival Mitsubishi Oil Co. and created Nippon Mitsubishi Co. in 1999 to become the largest oil refiner in Japan.

The Tokyo-born Watari became president of that company in 2000. He again took an important role as chairman of the firm in a merger with Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. in 2010, further strengthening the company's footing in the Japanese oil industry.

Watari also served as vice chairman of the Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, the country's most powerful business lobby.

==Kyodo

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