AI & DIGITALISATION REPORT

Powering the energy industry through transformative intelligence

Reflections from ADIPEC on how AI offers unprecedented opportunities for greater efficiency, faster operations, and enhanced energy security by revolutionising operations as the industry seeks a win-win scenario to meet rapidly accelerating demand.

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H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, said in his speech at the ADIPEC Opening Ceremony that electricity demand will keep surging through 2040 and that data centres will be one of the main drivers, with a fourfold increase of their power usage projected over the period. The energy world should then “focus on the data, not the drama”, he added.

AI FOR ENERGY, ENERGY FOR AI

While AI and generative AI offer unprecedented opportunities to maximise the potential of energy, sessions examined how the industry can deliver the energy the world needs to meet rapidly accelerating demand – notably driven by AI growth. Tech companies are devising new strategies to meet the rising appetite for energy, while the broader ecosystem continues to explore how AI can revolutionise operations and energy to create a win-win situation for all.

The energy industry is faced with a genuine need to balance innovation with infrastructure development as the unprecedented appetite for power only continues to grow, with demand forecasted to double between 2030 and 2040 to an estimated 1890 Tw/h. “There needs to be some pragmatism associated with energy being supplied at scale. Power is going to be knowledge because it’s going to enable us to fuel it at a faster rate,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, CEO at Baker Hughes.

What has changed in the last couple of years? A sense of urgency to step-change productivity, the emergence of AI as a tool that we use every day in our life, and the access to digital scale is starting to emerge in every company.

Olivier Le Peuch

CEO SLB

cs61

FASTER OPERATIONS, GREATER GAINS

Speed of operations was highlighted as an advantage of AI in the energy industry. “If we can accelerate drilling decisions by even 5%, that translates to hundreds of millions of dollars,” one expert noted. “While people can work up to 12-hour days, need vacations and take breaks, AI never stops working.” Additionally, companies reported a 2.5x higher ROI with C-suite-led AI strategy.

175GW

additional transmission capacity that can be unlocked in existing electricity systems with the use of AI

Source: (IEA)

SCALING ENERGY SOLUTIONS

AI’s role in energy security came into focus, with operational technologies being identified as a key driver. By analysing anomalies across various levels of process operations, AI can help detect cyberthreats in real time.

With today’s agentic AI, the use of Large Object Models (LOMs) within generative AI systems is proving highly effective, and these process vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and flag irregularities that might otherwise go unnoticed – a huge advantage for companies.