ADNOC Becomes First Energy Firm to Deploy OpenAI's Frontier Platform

ADNOC has signed a deal with OpenAI and G42 to become the world's first energy company to deploy OpenAI's Frontier platform to build and manage AI agents. The agreement, signed on the opening morning of ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi on Monday, targets oilfield development, well management and commercial operations.

The signing set the tone for the emirate's flagship annual energy conference, which runs this week amid the industry's sharpest geopolitical backdrop in years. Renewed U.S. strikes on Iran and the prospect of retaliation from Tehran have gripped oil markets in recent days. Those tensions pushed Exxon CEO Darren Woods and Chevron's upstream president, Clay Neff, to withdraw from ADIPEC citing security concerns, according to Reuters.

The turnout stayed strong regardless. BP CEO Meg O'Neill, Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli and Halliburton chairman and CEO Jeff Miller all flew in to speak. Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum were among 2,260 exhibiting companies, with more than 120 U.S. firms exhibiting — second only to China in number. The event is expected to draw roughly 239,000 visitors from 170 countries.

What does the AI push change for operators?

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and ADNOC group CEO, used his opening address to frame the argument. "Energy leadership is not measured by what you produce in good times, it is measured by what you deliver in hard times," he said. "The choices we make today will determine the energy landscape a decade from now."

Al Jaber urged increased investment in energy infrastructure and AI, calling AI essential to operational continuity. "AI must be built in, not bolted on," he said. "In a crisis, the speed of insight and the speed of decision-making is the difference between continuity and disruption."

Referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, seated in the front row as guest of honor, Al Jaber said: "Sam, 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."

BP's O'Neill laid out where the money actually goes. Her company focuses AI on two fronts: sub-surface analysis, including seismic processing and reservoir management, and physical AI to improve facility operations, cut costs and maximize resource flows through BP's systems.

"Understanding the macro impact of these investments and technologies, and what it means for global energy demand is really important, and we spend quite a bit of time on that, trying to sift through the myriad of forecasts which range from gentle growth to something that is astronomical and hard to figure out, and how they underpin our investment decisions," O'Neill said.

The spending numbers behind the talk

The AI enthusiasm has data behind it. Nine in 10 energy leaders — 89% — increased their AI spending over the past year, while 63% expect returns from existing investments to match or exceed their costs. That's from Powering Possible, the third annual study by ADNOC, its international investment arm XRG, and Microsoft, published last week.

The proportion of energy leaders ranking AI among their top two corporate priorities hit 62%, up from 42% a year earlier, as the industry increasingly embraces agentic AI. For context: in one year, AI moved from a minority priority to a top-two item for nearly two-thirds of the sector's leadership.

Why resilience dominated the agenda

Beyond AI, conversations at ADIPEC zeroed in on shifting trade routes, rising electricity demand and the investment needed to build resilient energy infrastructure.

Dr Carole Nakhle, CEO of Crystol Energy and Secretary General of the Arab Energy Club, described the scale of this year's disruption as "unprecedented" in an interview with Fortune contributor Inzamam Rashid on the sidelines of the event.

"We are all sailing through a very thick fog," Nakhle said. "Resilience doesn't get parachuted in overnight; it requires investment over years and decades."

The ADNOC-OpenAI deal signals where that investment is heading next: agentic AI embedded in core operations, not bolted onto them. Expect the supermajor peers gathered in Abu Dhabi to answer with deployments of their own.