3 minBusiness
UAE and OpenAI Partner With ADNOC on AI Across Oil Operations
Abu Dhabi's state oil company ADNOC, OpenAI and the firm G42 announced a partnership to apply artificial intelligence across oilfields, refining and trading, as energy supplies face strain from the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz disruption.
Abu Dhabi's state oil company ADNOC, the American AI developer OpenAI and the Abu Dhabi firm G42 have announced a partnership to deploy artificial intelligence across the oil business, a move unveiled at ADIPEC 2026, which is billed as the world's largest energy conference. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman joined UAE officials for the announcement in Abu Dhabi.
The plan would apply AI to oilfields, reservoirs, refining, logistics and trading. ADNOC's initial focus is analyzing data from thousands of wells and hundreds of facilities. The company says complex development plans that once took months could be completed in hours. Those claims on efficiency and cost savings have not been independently verified.
The announcement comes against a difficult backdrop for global energy markets. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE's industry minister and ADNOC's chief executive, said nearly one billion barrels have been drawn from global inventories since disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway tied to the Iran war. Al Jaber presented the partnership as a way to strengthen supply and operational resilience at a time of strain.
The partnership also fits into a wider UAE push into artificial intelligence. The country is already a partner in Stargate UAE, a computing infrastructure project involving US firms. Ahmed Baharoon of the B'huth research center described a shift in the country's economic role, from exporting oil to exporting computing capacity. He also urged that regulation be developed during the building of AI systems rather than after problems emerge.
Outside observers offered mixed assessments. Hochstein, of the investment firm TWG Global and a former adviser to President Joe Biden, said energy is likely to be a major beneficiary of the AI boom. He also warned that the costs of that expansion could fall on American consumers and called for closer collaboration between the US government and industry. Jeremy Wilkinson of the World Energy Council argued that AI should be designed to support human decision-making rather than replace it.
Altman said that his biggest challenge is securing the energy needed to power AI systems, a constraint that links the AI sector directly to the oil and gas industry. Whether these investments will deliver the productivity and security gains that their backers promise remains an open question, and the claimed efficiencies from ADNOC's rollout have yet to be tested outside the company's own assessment.
Source: foxnews.com
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