ADNOC partners with OpenAI and G42 to revolutionize energy sector with AI at ADIPEC 2026

Abu Dhabi: ADNOC has signed a new artificial intelligence agreement with OpenAI, as the ADIPEC energy conference opened at the Abu Dhabi Energy Centre today.

The agreement, which also involves a third partner, G42, was announced earlier in the day and is guided by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, said it would transform the company's field development, asset management and commercial operations, and make ADNOC the world's first energy company to deploy OpenAI frontier.

Al Jaber said the aim is to make ADNOC's systems smarter, safer, more secure and more productive.

"Sam, from the moment ChatGPT was born, the world has asked what energy can do for AI. Now together we will find out what AI can do for energy," he said.

Record numbers

ADIPEC opened with record participation. According to figures shown on stage, more than 170 countries are represented, with 2,260 exhibiting companies, 40 government ministers and 30 country pavilions.

Al Jaber said the event had outgrown its usual venue at ADNEC because of higher demand than last year and had moved the opening speech to Abu Dhabi Energy Centre to make room for new partners and participants.

Energy security on the agenda

In his opening speech, he said since the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted nearly 1 billion barrels have been drained from the global oil inventories, and in some markets, stocks of diesel are at their lowest seasonal level for 35 years, and others are facing a 600 billion cubic feet LNG supply gap.

Al Jaber also pointed to the rising cost of delivery. Shipping and logistics used to account for less than 5 percent of the cost of a barrel, he said, but now account for more than 30 percent.

Energy security, he argued, must now be measured at the point of delivery as well as at the point of production.

Al Jaber then highlighted five priorities. The first is accessible supplies, routes to market, operational intelligence, capital and the fifth, which he described as the most important, is people, a reference to the workers who make sure every barrel arrives.

Furthermore, he said the industry must move from automated operations to "intelligent" energy systems that can anticipate risks, optimise performance and reduce costs.

Al Jaber said the UAE’s approach had been tested under pressure and proven by results. “Talent stayed, capital stayed, investment kept coming, and the economy kept moving,” he said.

Al Jaber highlighted that the UAE would continue to advocate dialogue and diplomacy to bring stability to energy markets and global economy.

Altman: energy is the bottleneck

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is in Abu Dhabi for the opening, said he was excited to see what AI could do for energy companies, from producing more energy more efficiently to improving operations.

In a Q&A, Altman said demand for AI was growing and that the energy industry had an obligation to help meet it.

Asked by The National's Editor-In-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi, about what is the biggest challenge, Altman pointed to energy. He also stressed that people must stay in control of the technology.

"AI needs to be a tool for people. AI needs to serve people, not the other way around," he said.