ABU DHABI - The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) today outlined its technology leadership ambition to position the company at the forefront of innovation and advanced technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization, as it kicked off its first Innovation Week.

Taking place virtually from February 21-25, the ADNOC Innovation Week is bringing together thousands of its employees to engage on its technology roadmap and innovation strategy aimed at enabling the company’s vision to become a technology leader in the oil and gas industry.

Delivering the opening address, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Group CEO, said we live in a world where competitive advantage is being defined by the breakthroughs of the fourth industrial age and no industry can afford to stand still. He stressed ADNOC’s continued success as a business will be determined by how quickly it develops and adopts technologies of the future and pointed out the steps ADNOC has taken in this regard.

Over the past four years, ADNOC has made strategic investments to embed the latest technologies and innovation across its value chain as part of its digital transformation. These investments include AI, big data, blockchain, and predictive analytics which have unlocked significant value for ADNOC, driven down costs and created a solid foundation to elevate the company to become a technology leader in the industry as it focuses on the post-COVID recovery.

Dr. Al Jaber explained that as part of ADNOC’s vision to become a technology leader, it is evolving from a company that acquires the latest technologies to one that develops innovative solutions for itself and the industry.

An example of this process is AIQ, ADNOC’s joint venture with Group 42 (G42) launched last year to accelerate the development of new AI solutions to optimize processes, improve planning and increase profitability for ADNOC and the wider oil and gas industry.

"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. AIQ is working on AI solutions and innovations in machine learning that will ultimately be patented, licensed and offered to our industry partners," Dr. Al Jaber said.

As ADNOC looks to the future, it continues to reap the benefits of its digital transformation. The company has saved billions of dollars through its Panorama Digital Command Center (Panorama) and other digital initiatives.

"We began our digital journey back in 2018 when we launched Panorama, our state-of-the-art digital command center. Panorama basically changed the game for how ADNOC leverages big data and artificial intelligence to guide our decision-making. Before Panorama, our data was decentralized and lacked focus. By bringing it all together, we turned big data into big savings," Dr. Al Jaber said.

He added that he sees new opportunities to look beyond industry to keep ADNOC at the cutting edge of innovation as it delivers on this objective.

"For example, we should take advantage of the fact that the world’s first research university devoted to AI is right here in Abu Dhabi. The Mohamed bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence will be a great source of research and innovation that we can benefit from," Dr. Al Jaber said.

Concluding his remarks, Dr. Al Jaber said he believes the spirit of innovation that has taken the UAE to Mars can take ADNOC to the next level of its transformational journey.

Following Dr. Al Jaber’s remarks, Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology, addressed the forum and shared her perspective on the role of technology and innovation in building long-term resilience and navigating the post-COVID recovery.

Al Amiri said: "Thank you to ADNOC and Dr. Sultan for organizing this innovation week. Advanced technology and R&D are key priorities for the UAE and forums like the ADNOC Innovation Week provide a good platform to stimulate creative thinking and promote the adoption of technology to build resilience and provide solutions to the challenges we face as we navigate the post-Covid recovery." The ADNOC Innovation Week will see ADNOC host its first CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Roundtable on February 22 with 30 CTOs from leading international companies attending. The roundtable will be moderated by Professor Nicholas Webb, a bestselling author and inventor with over 40 patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

During the week, ADNOC will showcase the different technologies it is embedding across its value chain and host a series of panel sessions where employees from its Upstream and Downstream Industry, Marketing & Trading directorates as well as its group companies will share their perspectives on key innovation topics.

Over the past four years, ADNOC has made strategic investments and launched several initiatives in technology and innovation as part of its digital transformation to enhance efficiencies, optimize performance and unlock greater value from its assets and resources.

These initiatives include the Panorama Digital Command Center which has generated over $1 billion (AED3.67 billion) in business value for ADNOC since its inception. Panorama leverages AI, big data, and smart analytics to aggregate data across ADNOC’s operations and provides operational insights and recommendations.

Other initiatives include ADNOC’s Thamama Subsurface Collaboration Center which leverages big data, smart analytics and AI to help identify hydrocarbon resources and unlock value from existing fields. ADNOC is also applying AI-enabled technologies for value chain optimization, predictive maintenance, and blockchain-based hydrocarbon accounting.

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2021.