Big data, AI and drones will upend oil and gas industry

dubai — The future of the oil and gas industry is not as bleak as many are predicting it to be, with technology set to play a major role in how the industry is set to evolve, said Abdul Nasser Al Mughairbi, group SVP of digital at Adnoc.

Speaking in a conference session at the 38th Gitex Technology Week exhibition, he noted that the speed of technology development has never been faster or its potential impact as powerful.

“We don’t see oil as ending anytime soon; we might not use it as an energy source much in the future, but oil and gas will continue to play an indispensable role in fuelling global energy demand,” he said.

He added: “Big data is going to be the foundation of all our future digital transformation strategies. Our studies show that 80 per cent of oil and gas data will be unstructured by 2020. We see opportunities created by new technologies everywhere, ranging from optimising our production capacity to enhancing our drilling performance.”

Al Mughairbi also noted that the future of the industry will heavily revolve around autonomous operations. “We are increasingly using technologies such as robotics and drones for surveying and monitoring. Maintenance is the segment that is going to be the most impacted by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence [AI] and deep learning. Traditionally, maintenance has always been a challenge because there is a high degree of risk involved in using human manpower to look at issues such as leaks and weak points.”

Today, he revealed that the company practices a form of predictive maintenance that revolves around putting all the data gathered from different verticals in a deep learning algorithm. The algorithm is then able to predict when something needs to be fixed or replaced.

“What we have done is create a digital twin of the entire Adnoc value chain — powered by real time data,” he said.

“The future will increasingly involve us reducing the amount of time that the human workforce spends in potentially dangerous locations. We will trust in the data and count on it to help us resolve issues and provide increasing value across all segments.”

Maintenance is the segment that is going to be the most impacted by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence [AI] and deep learning

Abdul Nasser Al Mughairbi, Group SVP of digital at Adnoc

Photos by Dhes Handumon Executives display how a Smart Command and Control Centre works at the NEC Corporation pavilion during the Gitex Technology Week in Dubai on Tuesday; Emirati exhibitors try out a new concept at the region’s premier IT showcase; a visitor tries out a game at the Studio Macograph stand. —

Abdul Nasser Al Mughairbi says the future of the oil and gas industry is not as bleak as many are predicting it to be.