Technology

The collaboration aims to address the disconnect between how factory operations are designed and how they run in reality. (Image source: IFS)

Siemens and IFS have entered into a partnership involving the creation of a closed-loop Digital Twin to help manufacturers connect design, production and asset performance in a continuous loop, from engineering intelligence to operational outcome, optimising their production assets across the entire product lifecycle with industrial AI

The collaboration combines Siemens' leadership in industrial AI, engineering, automation and manufacturing execution and IFS's strengths in industrial AI, enterprise asset management and field service domains. With manufacturers under pressure to make the most of their existing assets, the two companies aim to help them address the disconnect between how factory operations are designed and how they run in reality, where unplanned downtime, disconnected maintenance schedules, siloed production data and supply chain disruption continue to erode throughput, agility, and margin.

Industrial AI at the core

With Industrial AI at the heart of the collaboration, Siemens and IFS are looking to enhance industrial performance by bringing the physical and digital worlds together to help manufacturers translate design intent into operational reality and connect that operational reality back into better design to accelerate innovation.

Siemens’ comprehensive Digital Twin brings the engineering, simulation and manufacturing context while IFS brings the service history, asset behavior and operational lifecycle data that show how those products and assets perform in the real world. Together, they plan to create a closed loop Digital Twin grounded in both design intent and field performance that is secure, governed and auditable across design, simulation, service records, factory execution and can be trusted to deploy at industrial scale.

Industrial environments demand accuracy, reliability, regulatory compliance and adaptability to drive optimisation and agility, as even small error rates are unacceptable when decisions affect safety, compliance and costly physical assets. The partners’ shared approach to industrial AI is built for this reality.

"Industrial AI only delivers value when it is grounded in both engineering intent and real-world performance," said Tony Hemmelgarn, president and chief executive officer, Siemens Digital Industries Software. "Together with IFS, we are bringing these domains together by connecting design, manufacturing and asset lifecycle data in a secure, contextualised data fabric. By converging our combined strengths in industrial AI, together we will empower our customers with our vision of an executable Digital Twin that will enable them to accelerate innovation with confidence.”

"Manufacturers need their factory floor to behave the way it was designed. This partnership with Siemens brings together two companies that each own a critical piece of the puzzle. Agentic AI is the critical frontier, and industrial leaders need solutions with closed loop models and data, and a rich set of context that will not hallucinate in active operations,” said Mark Moffat, chief executive officer, IFS. “By combining our collective strengths in Industrial AI, we can help manufacturers close the loop between design and reality, and unlock real, measurable performance gains."

SLB will establish a facility in Ahmadi Innovation Valley. (Image source: SLB)

SLB has been awarded a seven-year contract by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), which will see the company work with KOC to evaluate, test and deploy advanced technologies across its operations as well as establishing a new facility in Ahmadi Innovation Valley (AIV)

The agreement, under the AIV initiative, will support applied research, technology deployment and digital innovation programmes aligned with Kuwait's long-term energy objectives. Areas of focus include artificial intelligence (AI), industrial internet of things (IIoT) applications, production optimisation, reservoir technologies, water management and energy transition initiatives.

Ahmadi Innovation Valley is KOC's flagship innovation initiative that brings together industry, academia and technology providers to address strategic upstream technical challenges, with specialised facilities and technical teams focused on applied research, advanced technologies and operational excellence.

Under the agreement, SLB will establish a dedicated Ahmadi Innovation Valley facility in Kuwait, with construction expected to begin in 2026 and opening planned for 2028.

"Ahmadi Innovation Valley represents an important step in advancing technology leadership across Kuwait's energy sector," said Ahmad Jaber Al-Eidan, chief executive officer, Kuwait Oil Company. "Through collaboration with leading technology partners, we are accelerating technology deployment, strengthening local capabilities and expanding knowledge transfer to support Kuwait's energy industry."

"The energy industry has no shortage of technology. The challenge is deploying it at scale and turning innovation into operational impact," said Olivier Le Peuch, chief executive officer, SLB. "Ahmadi Innovation Valley brings together technology providers, researchers and operational teams to accelerate the evaluation, deployment and scaling of new solutions across KOC's operations. We are proud to contribute our technology, domain expertise and global experience while helping strengthen local capabilities and support the next generation of Kuwaiti talent."

SLB and KOC have a long history of collaboration going back more than 85 years. Most recently Kuwait Oil Company awarded SLB a US$1.5bn, five-year integrated contract in February this year for the Mutriba field, including design, development and production management. The work builds on SLB’s subsurface characterisation of the Mutriba field to support development planning and execution across deeper, technically demanding reservoir conditions. The contract covers development of high-pressure, high-temperature reservoirs with sour conditions.

Expanding the use of digital technologies

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is committed to expanding the use of digital and advanced technologies. In an interview with Oil Review Middle East, KOC’s CEO Ahmad Jaber Al- Eidan, said KOC has established an Innovation and Digitalization Team to co-ordinate enterprise- wide initiatives, including the integration of AI, advanced analytics, real-time monitoring, workflow automation and remote operations across the upstream value chain. For example, AI- powered drilling optimisation tools and predictive models for equipment reliability and well performance have been deployed to improve operational outcomes.

The Kuwait Integrated Digital Field (KwIDF) system has enabled real-time surveillance and faster data-driven decision making across operations. Smart field solutions are also being scaled across key assets.

A dedicated AI centre has been launched to optimise operational planning, assist in reservoir modelling, forecast ESP and equipment failures, enhance drilling performance and improve supply efficiency, while generative AI and advanced analytics are being embedded into workflows, supported by partnerships with leading technology providers.

“Looking ahead we are focused on piloting and scaling advanced digital solutions across all areas of our business, embedding those innovations within our operations and planning frameworks to ensure long-term scalability and aligned with our broader innovation and sustainability goals,” Al-Eidan said.

A new advanced robotic technology from IGS, a provider of asset integrity and energy efficiency solutions for energy, power and heavy industry, is revolutioning fired heater maintenance

The company has launched Rovex, a compact remotely operated vehicle (ROV) specifically developed for fired heater convection sectrions. It is designed to improve access to complex tube geometries and remove heavy fouling with precision, enabling operators to maintain output, reduce costs and extend asset life.

Heightened focus on energy security, coupled with continued investment in refining and petrochemical capacity across the Middle East, is driving greater attention towards efficiency and reliability across critical assets. Fouling is a persistent challenge across refineries, restricting heat transfer and reducing efficiency. In steam crackers, even a 1% efficiency loss can cost operators several million dollars annually. In large crackers, the impact can exceed US$10 million annually when yield, energy, and lost production are included.

Savings and benefits

At a time when the industry is under significant cost pressures, the technology can drive significant savings. Rovex’s fully remote operation eliminates the need for confined-space entry, reducing exposure to
• High-temperature environments
• Hazardous combustion residues
• Risks associated with confined-space entry
• Respiratory hazards from airborne particulate matter

High-definition cameras provide operators with continuous visual feedback throughout operation, ensuring operational precision and confidence. Proprietary articulation systems allow the ROV to navigate between tube banks and access all convection section surfaces, including those previously considered unreachable by conventional methods. Integrating robotic mobility, patented lance technology, and digital performance verification, the system supports measurable improvements in efficiency, reliability, and emissions reduction through effective cleaning of stubborn deposits on furnaces and fired heaters.

Compared to traditional water jetting or manual techniques, which typically access 20-30% of fouled surfaces and can risk asset damage, Rovex enables consistent cleaning coverage over 90% of the surface area.

Each Rovex deployment is supported by a thermal performance evaluation, enabling IGS engineers to quantify efficiency losses and target cleaning activity. This approach allows performance improvements to be measured and verified.

“Rovex reflects our continued focus on combining engineering and robotics to improve maintenance outcomes,” said Eric Duvekot, VP Engineering at IGS. “It provides a practical way for operators to address fouling safely, before it leads to lost revenue, while achieving consistent and measurable performance improvements.”

Success story

Recent field applications have demonstrated the system’s impact. At Oman Methanol Company, Rovex restored convection section performance, reducing stack temperature by 93.2°F / 34°C and improving fuel efficiency by 1.8%, enabling a return to full production capacity while reducing fuel consumption and associated emissions.

TotalEnergies is

TotalEnergies is advancing the deployment of data and AI to make its operations more efficient, safer and more sustainable, as exemplified by its new methane emissions monitoring centre

At VivaTech 2026, TotalEnergies is showcasing MethaneLive, its new global methane emissions monitoring centre which leverages real-time data and advanced algorithms to detect, measure, and analyse emissions, thereby providing a pathway to reduce them

Curbing methane emissions can play an important role in slowing global warming. IEA analysis suggests that the energy sector was responsible for around 145 Mt of methane emissions in 2024 – more than 35% of the total amount attributable to human activity. Oil operations were responsible for around 45 Mt, natural gas operations for nearly 35 Mt, and abandoned wells for around 3 Mt. An additional 2 Mt of methane leaked from end-use equipment. The oil and gas industry is making increasing efforts to reduce methane emissions, with more than 50 oil and gas companies, including TotalEnergies, signing up to the Oil & Gas Decarbonisation Charter launched at COP28, which commits signatories to reducing emissions to near zero by 2030.

Acccurate emissions data is critical for the implementation of effective methane abatement strategies. In 2025, TotalEnergies deployed permanent, real-time methane emissions monitoring through the installation of 13,000 sensors across all its operated onshore and offshore Upstream sites. These sensors generate a large volume of data. By combining advanced digital tools with the expertise of MethaneLive teams, this data is analysed in real time to alert operators, identify the root causes of anomalies, and recommend the most appropriate corrective actions.

Since its launch in early 2026, MethaneLive has detected 35 fugitive methane emissions at various facilities and enabled them to be tackled through targeted maintenance operations.

This foundation now enables the deployment of agentic AI solutions to go further, by more effectively targeting the highest-emitting equipment and improving the detection of fugitive emissions.
“The use of real-time data is a concrete driver that helps make our operations more reliable, safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. The value of digital technologies and AI is built over time, at the intersection of technology and people. Thanks to the quality of our data and the expertise of TotalEnergies’ teams, we are making digital a key driver in the fight against methane emissions,” said Namita Shah, president OneTech at TotalEnergies.

MethaneLive is just one example of how TotalEnergies is leveraging data to integrate artificial intelligence into its operations, making them more efficient, safer, and more sustainable, as it looks to scale up the use of data and AI across the company.

Data: a key enabler for scaling AI

Today, nearly 3,000 pieces of equipment are monitored across TotalEnergies’ assets. By analysing data collected from this equipment, AI systems detect early warning signs of potential failures, enabling teams to proactively plan maintenance operations on industrial facilities. This approach improves asset availability, reduces unplanned shutdowns and associated costs, and enhances safety. This system is set to be extended to tens of thousands of additional pieces of equipment monitored by AI models.

To fully leverage data and deploy AI at scale, TotalEnergies is investing in collecting real-time information from all its sites, then making it more reliable, better structured, and easily accessible to teams through dedicated platforms.

AI to unlock the full value of subsurface data

The company is leveraging advanced AI models combined with high-performance computing to fully harness its subsurface data and knowledge base, from exploration through to production across its assets.
In geosciences, AI helps streamline basin and field synthesis, improve the interpretation of seismic data, and optimise reservoir development and production, while automating processes and enabling the evaluation of a wide range of scenarios. It thus strengthens teams’ analytical and interpretation capabilities, helping identify new resource opportunities and optimise their development in a more efficient and sustainable way.

A new supercomputer to support AI applications

To support these data investments, TotalEnergies is launching Pangea 5, a new-generation supercomputer, which will increase the company’s computing power sixfold and support the development of AI applications. From 2027, it will help meet growing digital needs, optimise computing times, and deepen the understanding of complex scanarios.

AI to enhance safety and boost industrial performance

TotalEnergies is also collaborating with Mistral AI on a joint innovation lab, focusing initially on refinery performance analysis, as well as on leveraging large volumes of technical documents and data for exploration & production activities.