Adnoc to showcase new energy innovations

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said it plans to continue to harness the power of Big Data and artificial intelligence as it kicks off its first innovation week.

A series of events will run from February 21 to 25 to coincide with UAE Innovation Week. These will take place online as a result of the pandemic and include its first CTO roundtable, featuring chief technologies from leading international companies.

"We began our digital journey back in 2018 when we launched Panorama, our state-of-the-art digital command centre," said Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and Adnoc Group chief executive.

Adnoc has been building in-house capabilities for data gathering and reporting since opening the Panorama Digital Command Centre.

Data gathering, modelling tools and predictive maintenance machine learning technology allow the company to avoid service disruptions and respond swiftly to market dynamics – which have been critical in 2020.

"Panorama basically changed the game for how Adnoc leverages big data and artificial intelligence to guide our decision-making. Before Panorama, our data was decentralised and lacked focus. By bringing it all together, we turned big data into big savings," Dr Al Jaber added.

Adnoc also formed a joint venture known as AIQ with Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence firm Group 42 in October last year to develop and commercialise AI products and applications for the oil and gas industry.

A month later, AIQ, Group 42 and the world's largest energy services firm, Schlumberger, agreed a deal to develop and sell AI products for the global exploration and production market.

“In the future, our progress as a business will increasingly be enhanced by our ability to move from being a technology customer to becoming a technology provider and this is the central idea behind our joint venture with G42 – AIQ," Dr Al Jaber said.

AIQ is working on AI solutions and innovations in machine learning that will ultimately be patented, licensed and offered to our industry partners,” he added.

The chief technology officers' roundtable will take place on February 22, with 30 CTOs from international oil companies. The session will be moderated by Nicholas Webb, a best-selling author and inventor with more than 40 patents.

The national oil company will also showcase different technologies it is embedding across its value chain through panel sessions featuring employees sharing their perspectives on key innovation topics.

Other must-tries

Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.