UAE state oil company ADNOC on Monday announced a UAE OpenAI partnership, saying it would become the world’s first energy firm to deploy OpenAI Frontier, an advanced artificial intelligence platform. The deal was unveiled as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman attended ADIPEC, the UAE’s flagship oil industry gathering in Abu Dhabi, where the country has poured investment into AI to broaden an economy long tied to hydrocarbons.
What ADNOC says the deal will do
In a statement, ADNOC said OpenAI’s models would let it be “the first energy company in the world to use this technology to value every barrel while it is still in the ground”. According to the company, advanced reasoning models will draw together decades of data from thousands of wells, stacked reservoirs and hundreds of surface facilities, along with capital, cost and commercial factors, to prepare and refine full-field development master plans.
ADNOC also said interconnected AI agents would continuously forecast crude supply, demand, prices and margins, anticipate effects before they appear, and weigh the commercial and operational impact of decisions as one process. Managing director and chief executive Sultan Al Jaber told the conference that since ChatGPT’s arrival the world had asked what energy can do for AI, and that together the partners would ask what AI can do for energy.
G42, Altman and the wider Gulf AI push
The UAE OpenAI partnership will also bring in G42, an Emirati AI company chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the UAE president. Altman praised the UAE as having “consistently been the most forward-looking country in the world for AI adoption”. The oil-rich UAE ranks among the Middle East’s leading AI players and has sought a larger global role in the field.
Abu Dhabi has treated AI as a national priority since 2017, when it appointed the world’s first AI minister and became the second country after Canada to publish a national AI strategy. G42 was founded a year later with backing from sovereign wealth fund Mubadala; it sells a range of AI products and employs more than 23,000 people. Last year, after heavy lobbying, the United States approved exports of advanced Nvidia chips to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 2017: The UAE named the world’s first AI minister and launched a national AI strategy, second only to Canada.
- 2018: G42 was founded with Mubadala backing and later grew into a major Emirati AI employer.
- Last year: The United States approved advanced Nvidia chip exports to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
- Sunday: Saudi state oil firm Aramco said it was taking a 49 percent stake in state-backed AI company Humain and injecting about 9.9 billion Saudi riyals ($2.6 billion) this year, plus AI, compute and digital assets.
- Monday: ADNOC announced its partnership with OpenAI at ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, naming itself the first energy firm to deploy OpenAI Frontier and including G42 in the collaboration.
Aasan alfaaz mein
UAE ki state oil company ADNOC ne OpenAI ke saath partnership ka elaan kiya hai. Yeh company OpenAI Frontier AI platform use karne wali pehli energy firm banne ka daawa karti hai. Is se zameen ke andar oil ki qeemat aur field planning behtar banane ka iraada hai. Deal mein Emirati AI company G42 bhi shamil hai.
