The LOOP unit is a dual-purpose innovation. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

ADNOC Gas, in partnership with Baker Hughes, has installed British climate technology firm Levidian’s patented LOOP technology at the Habshan Gas Processing Plant

The installation will help capture carbon from methane to transform it into graphene, a material set to shape the future of multiple industrial applications.

The LOOP unit is capable of producing more than 1 tonne per annum (tpa) of graphene and 1 tpa of hydrogen, making it a dual-purpose innovation aligned with global energy transition goals. Future industrial-scale installations are expected to deliver 15 tpa.

Driving decarbonisation

Mohamed Al Hashemi, Chief Operations Officer of ADNOC Gas, said, "The deployment of LOOP technology is a significant milestone for ADNOC Gas. By transforming methane into valuable graphene and clean hydrogen, we are unlocking new value from natural gas, driving decarbonisation and supporting the UAE’s industrial growth and climate ambitions. This project reflects our dedication to shaping a more sustainable energy future while delivering tangible benefits for the industries we serve."

“This project demonstrates once more how the collaboration between Baker Hughes and ADNOC Gas unlocks the potential of new decarbonisation technologies,” said Alessandro Bresciani, senior vice president Climate Technology Solutions at Baker Hughes. “Bringing innovation from startups and research labs into the reality of complex industrial sites requires technical skills and the highest level of collaboration and focus on health, safety and environment. We are delighted to have brought Levidian's technology into ADNOC Gas’ Habshan plant, as part of our company’s long-term focus in bringing to market and scaling up innovative solutions for our customers."

John Hartley, CEO of Levidian, commented, “We’re seeing huge appetite within the market for our graphene and are excited to be working with Baker Hughes and ADNOC to unlock a new source of this super-material, which will help establish Levidian as one of the world’s largest producers of graphene that is less carbon intensive, more affordable and of a consistently higher quality than anything available on the market today."

The 90-day proof-of-concept trial demonstrated ENERGYai’s agentic AI. (Image source: AIQ)

ADNOC and AIQ has announced proof-of-concept trial of ENERGYai, a novel agentic artificial intelligence (AI) solution tailored for the energy sector

ENERGYai integrates a 70-billion-parameter large language model (LLM) with more than 50 years of ADNOC’s knowledge and petabytes of its proprietary data to drive optimisation and efficiency across the company’s operations.

The 90-day proof-of-concept trial demonstrated that ENERGYai’s agentic AI – AI ‘agents’ that are trained in specific tasks across the energy value chain – can deliver significant improvements in the pace and accuracy of upstream exploration through rapid, precise and detailed seismic survey analysis, alongside relevant, actionable insights to support production optimization at ADNOC’s existing wells. ENERGYai was able to deliver its insights in intuitive natural language, enabling engineers to interact with it effectively and easily.

Sustainable energy production

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, ADNOC Upstream CEO, said, "The successful completion of this proof of concept for ENERGYai has shown extremely promising results, and has confirmed the potential of the solution to be a powerhouse for value creation and sustainable energy production. Building on this initial achievement, ENERGYai will leverage petabytes of data to better empower our people and future-proof ADNOC, as we work to become the world’s most AI-enabled energy company."

Magzhan Kenesbai, Acting Managing Director of AIQ said, “This milestone was made possible through close alignment between ADNOC subject matter experts, the expertise of 100+ specialists, and the establishment of robust and secure AI infrastructure. These factors lay the foundation for even greater accomplishments in the forthcoming phases.”

Virtual reality has emerged as a cost-effective option. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Industry leaders such as Shell, and ExxonMobil are using VR simulations to train their employees in critical operations. This provides a highly safe and cost-efficient approach to introduce personnel to a new facility in both offshore and onshore terrains, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData has released its strategic intelligence report, titled, 'Virtual Reality in Oil and Gas' that looks into areas of application of virtual reality in the industry, from rigs and pipelines to refineries. Oil and companies are now investing on training modules for the workforce and visualising the asset under consideration for planning and decision making.

Ravindra Puranik, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said, "VR enhances the operational safety through immersive training programmes. It can help develop safety procedures at production facilities to address smaller accidents as well as for emergency response."

Leading oil and gas companies such as Shell, bp, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, have adopted VR to train as well as aid regular workflows in operations. It offers a cost-effective means to acclimatise the workforce to various environments through immersive training programmes. It also offers safe environment for the workforce to understand the workflows by participating in virtual walk-throughs, without being in proximity of heavy industrial equipment.

Puranik continues, “Industry technicians work in hazardous environments, such as offshore rigs or at a densely packed equipment maze in a refinery. VR can be used to relay important information and instructions to the technician onsite, without the need to fly out experts to that location or carrying detailed instruction manuals for referencing.”

VR plays a key role in the digital twin set up, helping companies recreate scenarios through detailed simulations. During planning and development, the collaborating teams can share information using VR to simulate various scenarios. It is useful in optimizing equipment performance and maximizing the asset life. Digital twins help to design workflows and identify bottlenecks to optimize a plant’s performance. Twins also help to create a 3D visualization of the seismic data using VR simulations.

Puranik concludes: “Various aspects of a production platform can be modeled through VR simulations to enhance the understanding of personnel for on-field tasks. They can simulate the processes using VR before implementing on the operational floor. It thus reduces the scope for human errors during critical operations. Besides, designers and engineers can better visualize the layout under development using VR technology. This can potentially help to improve designs, and carefully plan its execution to optimize the project costs.”

AR360 modules will be developed as Petrel subsurface software plug-ins to create a suite of powerful and specialised tools. (Image source: AIQ)s

Abu-Dhabi based technology company AIQ, has partnered with SLB to integrate its Advanced Reservoir 360 (AR360) solution with SLB’s Petrel software

AR360 uses AI to visualise reservoirs and optimise development, reducing planning time while increasing well life and recovery rates by ensuring the right balance between drilling new wells, boosting performance of existing wells, and optimising injection and production volumes.

Petrel software offers a comprehensive suite of physics- and AI-based technologies in an integrated, model-centric architecture to deliver critical insights into the subsurface. It facilitates more efficient well planning, field development, and optimisation for oil and gas reserves, as well as solutions supporting the energy transition, including CCUS and geothermal.

While traditional forecasting technologies require working across multiple software platforms and data sets, which can be time-consuming, combined with Petrel software, AR360 enhances workflows with an end-to-end approach to reservoir development and utilises AI to save time and enable better and more proactive decision-making. AR360 modules will be developed as Petrel software plug-ins, utilising the SLB Ocean software development framework to create a suite of powerful and specialised tools.

ADNOC has deployed AR360 on more than 30 reservoirs across its upstream operations, following the solution’s successful initial deployment in early 2024 on two ADNOC reservoirs at Bab and Umm Shaif fields.

Magzhan Kenesbai, acting managing director of AIQ commented, “Petrel software is globally reputed, and incorporating AR360 into its capabilities will deliver an improvement of asset reservoir understanding through data integration. This partnership reinforces the emergence of AIQ as a developing global AI supplier-of-choice for the energy sector. We are driving greater efficiencies in upstream operations and beyond, and partnering with leading technology providers in our pursuit of excellence.”