Adnoc generated $500m last year using artificial intelligence tools

The company says it is at the start of a multiyear programme to accelerate use of the technology

Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, reviews the Panorama digital control centre at Adnoc. Wam

Abu Dhabi energy company Adnoc generated $500 million by using artificial intelligence solutions last year, as it boosts efforts to increase adoption of the technology.

This resulted from the integration of more than 30 AI tools across the energy company's full value chain, from field operations to corporate decision-making, Adnoc said on Tuesday.

The applications also abated up to one million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions between 2022 and 2023, the equivalent of removing about 200,000 petrol-powered cars from the road.

“[AI] is one of the most important economic and social game changers of our era and it can play a crucial role in accelerating a just, orderly and equitable energy transition,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc.

“At Adnoc, we have integrated artificial intelligence across our operations, from the control room to the boardroom, and it is enabling us to make smarter decisions and better protect our people and the environment."

Adnoc said it is at the beginning of a multiyear programme to accelerate the use of “a suite of AI solutions” across the company’s value chain.

Disruptive technologies, including AI, blockchain, cloud computing, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and the metaverse are transforming the oil and gas industry.

Many national and international oil companies are using emerging technologies to maximise each barrel produced.

A 2022 research paper by the World Economic Forum and Accenture showed that digitalisation could add $1.6 trillion to $2.5 trillion to the oil and gas industry in the next decade.

The market for AI technologies globally is projected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2030 from $200 billion last year, according to Statista.

A mobile robot for fire incidents at the Petroleum Institute’s Ebtikar Innovation contest. Ravindranath K / The National

Adnoc has been boosting the use of technology to increase productivity and efficiency.

In 2017, the company introduced two digital command centres, Panorama and Thamama, which utilise neural networks for machine learning and produce predictive data. The Panorama centre accesses data points throughout the company, presenting them visually on a 50-metre-wide video wall to offer a graphical overview of Adnoc's performance in real time.

Adnoc, which aims to achieve net zero by 2045, plans to grow its oil production capacity to five million barrels per day by 2027.

The company was the largest spender on low-carbon solutions among national oil companies last year, according to an Energy Intelligence report last week.

The energy firm, which is responsible for about all of the UAE’s oil and gas production, initiated the highest number of new low-carbon projects among both international and national oil companies, the report said.