Today's Edition
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
ADNOC has partnered with OpenAI and G42 to transform its field development, well management and commercial operations, in a deal that will make it the world's first energy company to deploy OpenAI Frontier.
Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, announced the partnership on Monday during the opening ceremony of ADIPEC 2026.
The agreement, guided by His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, will help ADNOC make its systems more productive, resilient and secure, Al Jaber said.
"From the moment ChatGPT was born, the world has asked, what energy can do for AI? And now, together, we will find out what AI can do for energy," he added.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised the UAE’s rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, pointing to its integration across government and the wider economy.
“The UAE is the most forward-looking country in the world when it comes to AI adoption,” he said in a discussion following the opening ceremony.
Altman noted that around 80% of young people in the UAE use ChatGPT every week, one of the highest rates globally.
“Societies have to bet on this technology and societies that embrace it the most and the earliest will thrive the most,” Altman said, adding that the agreement marked another step in a long-standing relationship between OpenAI and the UAE.
Energy Security Shifts from Supply to Delivery
In his opening remarks, Al Jaber also highlighted the growing importance of energy security amid disruptions to global supply chains, warning that the industry could no longer focus solely on production without ensuring that energy reaches consumers.
"Supply is only half the story. The other half is delivery," he said.
Nearly one billion barrels have been drained from global inventories since the disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, while diesel stocks in some markets have fallen to their lowest seasonal levels in 35 years and other markets face a 600 billion cubic feet liquefied natural gas supply gap, Al Jaber said.
Shipping and logistics costs, which previously accounted for less than 5% of the cost of a barrel of oil, have now risen to more than 30%, he added.
Al Jaber outlined five priorities for strengthening energy security: accessible supply, routes to market, operational intelligence, investment and people.
These include expanding strategic storage, increasing product stockpiles, developing flexible refining capacity closer to consumer markets and building infrastructure before it is needed.
He also called for a shift towards intelligent energy systems that can anticipate risks, improve performance and reduce costs.
Al Jaber said ADNOC had prepared for disruption through investments made years earlier, including integrated trading, logistics, people and XRG's global portfolio in gas, chemicals and energy solutions.
"We did not write our playbook during this disruption. We wrote it years before," he said. "And at ADNOC, it did not make us immune. It made us prepared."
Al Jaber further stressed that energy leadership would increasingly be measured by the ability to deliver during periods of disruption, rather than production levels during favourable conditions.
“The choices we make today will determine the energy landscape a decade from now,” he said.
