ADNOC is partnering with OpenAI and G42 to connect decisions across energy operations, with field development planning among the initial applications.
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Bringing AI into complex energy workflows
OpenAI, Abu Dhabi-based energy company ADNOC and technology group G42 announced a partnership at the ADIPEC energy conference on 2 November 2026. The agreement aims to apply advanced artificial intelligence across a business that spans production, processing, refining, logistics, sales and trading.
ADNOC says it will become the first energy company to deploy OpenAI Frontier technology. The project is intended to link information and decisions across operations instead of treating each department’s analysis as an isolated task.
Field planning is an initial priority
One of the central objectives is to speed up field development planning. Such plans bring together information about wells, reservoirs, surface facilities, investment requirements and operating costs. Preparing them can involve several specialist studies and a long sequence of decisions.
The proposed approach would evaluate data from thousands of wells, multiple reservoirs and hundreds of facilities together. ADNOC’s stated ambition is to prepare and optimise complex development plans in hours rather than months. That is an implementation goal described in the announcement, rather than a published measurement showing that every planning workflow already achieves the reduction.
Connecting production and commercial choices
The partnership also concerns how operational decisions affect business results. Information about production and refining can be considered alongside logistics, supply, demand, prices and margins. Linking these inputs is intended to help decision-makers assess the wider consequences of a proposed course of action.
An individual change to one facility can affect other parts of the value chain. The project therefore focuses on coordinated analysis as well as faster processing. OpenAI’s models will be combined with ADNOC’s industrial knowledge and data, with G42 contributing technology infrastructure.
Industrial expertise remains part of the process
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said advanced AI could help address difficult problems in areas such as energy. The partners present the agreement as a way to combine model capabilities with practical industrial experience, rather than replacing the need to understand the underlying operations.
For ADNOC, the work builds on an existing programme of AI adoption. The new agreement concerns the deployment of AI within the energy business; it does not mean OpenAI is becoming an oil producer or taking ownership of ADNOC’s facilities. The announced targets centre on planning, analysis, efficiency and better-informed operational and commercial decisions.
Reporting: Erkan Veyseloğlu
