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Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has agreed to work with OpenAI and Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42 to introduce
advanced artificial intelligence (AI) across its energy business, with the aim of connecting decision-making across its operations.
The multi-year agreement was announced on November 2 at the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi. ADNOC said it would become the first energy company to deploy OpenAI’s Frontier technology. The system will combine OpenAI’s models with ADNOC’s operational data and expertise, using G42’s UAE sovereign AI infrastructure.
The collaboration will focus on two key areas. The first is field master planning, where AI will draw on decades of information from thousands of wells, reservoirs and hundreds of surface facilities. ADNOC said the technology is intended to combine subsurface, engineering and commercial considerations, helping teams prepare development plans in hours rather than months.
The second application will connect data across production, processing, refining, logistics, sales and trading. Interconnected AI agents are expected to assess supply, demand, prices and margins, helping teams understand how decisions in one part of the business affect the wider value chain.
The partnership will build on ADNOC’s existing AI programme, which includes its ENERGYai subsurface system and more than 200 AI applications, alongside 70 robotics use cases deployed or under development. The companies also plan to strengthen cyber defence through OpenAI’s Daybreak Blue initiative.
ADNOC said human experts would retain oversight of consequential decisions and that proprietary data and critical infrastructure would remain protected. The announcement was witnessed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman’s UAE visit.
The agreement reflects growing interest in applying advanced AI to industrial operations. Its value, however, will depend on how reliably the systems perform in practice and whether expected gains in planning, efficiency and commercial decision-making can be demonstrated at scale.
The multi-year agreement was announced on November 2 at the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi. ADNOC said it would become the first energy company to deploy OpenAI’s Frontier technology. The system will combine OpenAI’s models with ADNOC’s operational data and expertise, using G42’s UAE sovereign AI infrastructure.
The collaboration will focus on two key areas. The first is field master planning, where AI will draw on decades of information from thousands of wells, reservoirs and hundreds of surface facilities. ADNOC said the technology is intended to combine subsurface, engineering and commercial considerations, helping teams prepare development plans in hours rather than months.
The second application will connect data across production, processing, refining, logistics, sales and trading. Interconnected AI agents are expected to assess supply, demand, prices and margins, helping teams understand how decisions in one part of the business affect the wider value chain.
The partnership will build on ADNOC’s existing AI programme, which includes its ENERGYai subsurface system and more than 200 AI applications, alongside 70 robotics use cases deployed or under development. The companies also plan to strengthen cyber defence through OpenAI’s Daybreak Blue initiative.
ADNOC said human experts would retain oversight of consequential decisions and that proprietary data and critical infrastructure would remain protected. The announcement was witnessed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman’s UAE visit.
The agreement reflects growing interest in applying advanced AI to industrial operations. Its value, however, will depend on how reliably the systems perform in practice and whether expected gains in planning, efficiency and commercial decision-making can be demonstrated at scale.
