ADNOC Partners with OpenAI and G42 to Deploy AI

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a multi-year partnership with OpenAI and UAE technology group G42 to introduce advanced artificial intelligence capabilities across its operations, marking a new development in the deployment of frontier AI technology within the global energy industry.

The agreement, announced at the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi on 2 November, will integrate OpenAI’s advanced AI models with ADNOC’s industrial data and operational expertise. ADNOC said it would become the first energy company to deploy OpenAI’s frontier technology.

The partnership is intended to connect operational, investment and commercial decision-making across ADNOC’s business, covering activities from production and processing to refining, logistics, sales and trading.

The announcement was witnessed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman attended the event alongside ADNOC managing director and group CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber and G42 representatives.

ADNOC to deploy OpenAI Frontier across energy operations

Under the agreement, ADNOC will use OpenAI’s Frontier platform and GPT models to connect AI capabilities across different areas of its business.

The system is intended to coordinate AI agents that can assess the commercial and operational consequences of decisions across multiple business functions.

This approach is designed to move beyond isolated AI applications by enabling information from different parts of ADNOC’s operations to contribute to more connected decision-making.

An initial application will focus on field master planning. The system will connect historical information covering thousands of wells, multiple reservoirs and hundreds of surface facilities to support the preparation and optimisation of complex field development plans.

According to ADNOC, the technology is expected to reduce the time required to prepare these plans from months to hours.

The partnership will also complement ADNOC’s existing artificial intelligence capabilities, including ENERGYai, its specialist subsurface AI platform, and more than 200 AI applications already deployed or under development.

The company said the collaboration would combine OpenAI’s advanced models with its own industrial expertise and operational information.

G42 to support AI deployment using UAE infrastructure

G42 is a central participant in the partnership, with the deployment relying on AI computing infrastructure located in the UAE.

The official announcement identifies Inception42, a G42 subsidiary, as part of the implementation arrangement.

The AI solutions will operate using OpenAI’s GPT models and UAE-based inference infrastructure. This will allow AI processing to take place within the country’s computing environment.

The arrangement also reflects the UAE’s wider efforts to develop domestic AI infrastructure and expand the use of advanced AI technologies across strategically important industries.

For ADNOC, combining its industrial data with AI capabilities and locally based computing infrastructure is intended to support the integration of technology into complex energy operations.

The agreement does not disclose its financial value or a detailed implementation schedule.

OpenAI expands its relationship with Abu Dhabi

The ADNOC agreement forms part of a wider expansion of OpenAI’s relationships with Abu Dhabi-based organisations.

According to the Abu Dhabi Media Office, four agreements involving OpenAI were signed during the visit by Sam Altman, covering energy, investment, government services and enterprise AI adoption.

In the investment sector, Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Inception42 and OpenAI signed an agreement to apply advanced AI capabilities to investment analysis, identifying opportunities and assessing risk.

The Abu Dhabi Government also launched an AI-native Machine-Readable Government initiative with OpenAI. The programme is designed to convert selected government policies and regulations into machine-readable formats, allowing AI systems to assist officials with routine regulatory compliance assessments.

Its initial pilot is operating with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, focusing on food imports. Government officials will retain responsibility for final decisions.

Separately, Inception42 and OpenAI signed a five-year agreement to support the adoption of frontier AI across government, enterprise and education in the UAE.

These agreements indicate that Abu Dhabi’s AI strategy extends beyond individual technology deployments into the integration of AI across public administration, investment activities and major industrial businesses.

UAE AI infrastructure investment supports the partnership

OpenAI’s expanding presence in the UAE also includes its participation in Stargate UAE, an AI infrastructure development announced in May 2025.

The project is part of a planned 5-gigawatt UAE-US AI campus in Abu Dhabi, developed through a collaboration involving G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco and SoftBank.

OpenAI’s involvement in the infrastructure initiative provides additional context for its latest agreement with ADNOC.

The development of large-scale computing capacity is important for AI deployment because advanced models require substantial computing resources and reliable energy supplies.

Altman highlighted energy as one of the challenges facing AI companies, noting that the physical infrastructure required to power increasingly capable systems will remain a significant factor in determining their cost and availability.

This creates a two-way relationship between the energy and technology sectors: energy companies can use AI to improve industrial operations, while AI infrastructure developers depend on reliable electricity and energy systems to support expanding computing demand.

AI adoption creates new opportunities for the energy industry

The ADNOC partnership highlights the potential for frontier AI technology to support decision-making across complex industrial operations.

Oil and gas businesses manage large volumes of geological, engineering, production, maintenance and commercial information. Integrating these datasets can help companies evaluate operational choices across different stages of the energy value chain.

For energy operators, applications could include improved field development planning, coordination of production activities and more integrated commercial assessments. However, the actual performance benefits of the ADNOC deployment will need to be assessed as the technology is implemented.

For technology suppliers, the agreement also demonstrates demand for AI systems designed around the operational requirements of large industrial organisations rather than standalone productivity applications.

The partnership’s use of UAE-based inference infrastructure adds another dimension, highlighting the role of locally hosted computing capabilities in enterprise AI deployments.

What the ADNOC-OpenAI partnership means for the market

The agreement comes as international energy companies continue to explore ways to improve operational efficiency, manage complex assets and strengthen their digital capabilities.

It also comes amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty in the Gulf. Some executives from US energy companies ExxonMobil and Chevron cancelled plans to attend ADIPEC, citing security concerns, although representatives from other international energy businesses, including BP, Eni and Baker Hughes, attended the event.

For the energy industry, the significance of the ADNOC agreement will depend on how effectively AI capabilities can be integrated into existing operational systems and whether they deliver measurable improvements in planning, productivity and commercial decision-making.

Follow B2B Market Signal on social media for the latest business news, industry developments, market intelligence and analysis. Connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Instagram at @b2bmarketsignal for regular updates