The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced today it has signed an agreement with Group 42 (G42), an Abu Dhabi based artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and supercomputing company, to establish a joint venture to develop and commercialize market-leading AI products for the oil and gas industry. Under the terms of the agreement, a new company will be established as a separate legal and operating entity.

The agreement was signed at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) by Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Director, Executive Office Directorate, ADNOC, and Peng Xiao, CEO of G42. The signing of the agreement was witnessed by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO.

H.E. Dr Al Jaber said: “As we prepare for the opportunities and challenges the 4th industrial age will present, this joint venture is a pro-active approach using an innovative partnership to create the oil and gas technology solutions of tomorrow. It reflects ADNOC’s commitment to deploying the power of advanced technology to maximize value from every molecule we produce and will strengthen Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s leading position at the cutting edge of AI and the global energy sector.”

The partnership will enable ADNOC to leverage G42’s sophisticated CPU and GPU-based computing clusters, world-class data scientists, software engineers, domain experts, as it accelerates the delivery of its 2030 smart growth strategy. In return, G42 will have access to ADNOC’s petabytes of archival data as it develops new AI solutions for the oil and gas industry.

Xiao said: “We are proud to join forces with ADNOC to create this new Abu Dhabi based entity that will provide the world with best-in-class, AI-based technological solutions for the oil and gas industry.”

“This partnership will enable us to further develop the advanced AI tools required by ADNOC and other leading oil and gas companies to become more efficient, enhance their performance and empower their people, as they deliver the energy required for future economic growth.”

The partnership with G42 is one of several digital transformation initiatives by ADNOC, as it utilizes cutting-edge technology across its entire value chain to reduce the downtime of critical equipment, improve recovery rates of wells, increase energy efficiency and introduce flexibility to respond to market signals. Among the technologies ADNOC is deploying are artificial intelligence, data analytics, blockchain and machine learning.