UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO Sultan al-Jaber speaks during a news conference in Dubai, December 4, 2023. (AFP)
UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO Sultan al-Jaber said on Monday that there is a need for investment in the power sector to grow to at least $ 1.5 trillion per year.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 40th Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC), one of the most influential events for oil, gas and energy professionals, Jaber outlined how the industry can leverage three global megatrends: the rise of emerging markets, the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and energy system transformation.
He stressed that harnessing these trends requires "unprecedented cross-sectoral integration to accelerate sustainable growth."
Jaber highlighted the need for "targeted investment, enhanced grid and energy infrastructure and enabling policies and regulation" to unlock the transformative potential of these megatrends.
ADNOC, he explained, is embracing these trends, pivoting to opportunities across the energy value chain to "future-proof its business, de-carbonise and deliver long-term sustainable value."
He noted that by 2050, the world's population will grow by 1.7 billion, mostly in the Global South. Consequently, "energy markets must shift and grow, and energy systems must be transformed.
"Wind and solar will expand seven times. LNG will grow by 65 percent. Oil will continue to be used for fuel and as a building block for many essential products. And as the world becomes increasingly urban, demand for electricity will double," he said.
"Adding to this demand is Artificial Intelligence. AI is one of those era-defining breakthroughs that is changing the pace of change itself. It is redefining the boundaries of productivity and efficiency," Jaber explained.
"But the exponential growth of AI is also creating a power surge that no one anticipated 18 months ago. That's when ChatGPT took off. A single prompt on ChatGPT needs ten times more energy than a Google search. As AI expands, it will rely on a massive scale-up of data centres ... Over the next six years, data centres will more than double, requiring at least 150GW of installed capacity by 2030 and double that again by 2040."
No single source of energy will be sufficient to meet this demand sustainably, he noted, emphasising the need to "harness diverse energy sources, from renewables and nuclear to LNG, alongside advanced infrastructure and increased investment."
The UAE, Jaber added, is proactively adapting its energy systems. ADNOC's growth strategy includes expanding its global gas footprint, investing in chemicals, enhancing battery storage and advancing low-carbon fuels and carbon capture.
To advance ADNOC's AI strategy, Jaber announced Energyai by ADNOC, a transformative platform developed in partnership with AIQ, G42 and Microsoft.
This platform will be the first to apply agentic AI at scale within the energy industry, capable of autonomously analysing vast datasets and driving operational improvements.
"It will not only analyse petabytes of data, but it will also proactively and autonomously identify operational improvements. It will perceive, think, learn and act. It will speed up seismic surveys from months to days. It will increase the accuracy of production forecasts by up to 90 percent," Jaber said.