- 7,261 submissions reinforce ADIPEC’s role in advancing technical innovation across the energy sector.
- AI & Digital Transformation becomes the largest SPE category, up 11.6% year on year.
- Record Downstream Conference submissions driven by digital transformation and advanced manufacturing growth.
Abu Dhabi, 19 June 2026: The ADIPEC 2026 Technical Conferences, hosted by ADNOC, have attracted a combined record of 7,261 paper submissions from energy professionals and researchers worldwide, as the global technical community responds in depth and at scale to rising demand, growing energy security pressures and rapid technological change.
Across the Technical Conference organised by SPE and the Downstream Technical Conference organised by dmg events, submissions increased by 196 compared with 2025. Together, they reveal an industry focused on delivering smarter, more resilient and more efficient energy systems across the entire value chain.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as one of the defining themes of this transformation. AI & Digital Transformation is now the largest category in the SPE programme, with 1,296 submissions and an 11.6% increase year on year. This growth highlights the pace of transformation unfolding across the global energy landscape, as optimisation, automation and decision-support applications continue to reshape the industry’s efficiency and delivery.
Addressing the record-breaking submissions, Haitham Al Jenaibi, EVP Development & Production (Gas), ADNOC Upstream, ADIPEC 2026 Technical Conference Chairman, said: “At a time when energy systems are being asked to deliver more than ever, this record number of submissions reflects the depth of innovation across our industry. It reaffirms that ADIPEC remains the trusted leading technical platform that attracts state-of-the-art technologies and innovation, convening global experts to advance scalable solutions and strengthen the energy sector’s resilience and competitiveness”.
The momentum was equally evident in the Downstream Technical Conference, which recorded its highest-ever submission intake with 977 papers, up 24.9% on 2025. Digital Transformation & Advanced Manufacturing was the fastest-growing Downstream theme, rising 58.6% to 211 papers to become the top category in the programme and reflecting the accelerating adoption of digital technologies across refining, chemicals and industrial operations.
One of the strongest signals of changing industry priorities came from a new category, Techno-Economic Design & Strategic Decision-Making, which debuted with 85 submissions. Its immediate popularity reflects growing demand for technical approaches that combine engineering excellence with commercial and strategic thinking, helping organisations navigate an increasingly complex operating environment
Thomas Löffler, Senior Vice President – ADIPEC, dmg events, commented: “This year’s Technical Conferences’ submissions send a clear signal: that AI has moved from theory to infrastructure. The range and complexity of submissions confirm that the technical community is doing the hard work of embedding these solutions across operations; not as a future ambition, but as an essential component of efficient and resilient energy systems.”
Across the SPE programme, submissions grew in Drilling, up 112 papers, and Unconventional Resources, up 14%, demonstrating an increased focus on near-term supply and production resilience. Integrated Field Development and Energy Addition/Low-Carbon saw contractions of 19.4% and 35.1% respectively, indicating a rebalancing of technical attention towards immediate supply delivery needs.
In the Downstream programme, Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency & Recycling grew 52.5% to 61 papers, pointing to sustained technical interest in resource efficiency alongside the broader supply-side shift and confirming that longer-term sustainability considerations continue to command serious technical attention - even as near-term security pressures intensify.
The top five SPE submitting countries were the UAE, India, Saudi Arabia, China and the USA, spanning the world's major producing nations and its largest emerging energy market, and underscoring the genuinely global reach of the Technical Conferences. The breadth of participation reinforces ADIPEC's role as the platform where the technical community convenes across geographies and disciplines to share knowledge and advance the solutions the industry needs.
ADIPEC 2026 will take place in Abu Dhabi from 2–5 November 2026, bringing together more than 239,000 attendees, 1,800 speakers, 16,500 delegates and 2,250 exhibiting companies to advance the partnerships, technologies and practical solutions needed to strengthen energy systems under pressure and support long-term economic growth.
