Dr. Sultan Al Jaber rallies energy industry to lead sustainable growth

In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Presidential Court, and His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, rallied the energy industry to lead the world to the next phase of sustainable growth.

Delivering a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 40th ADIPEC, H.E. Dr. Al 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.”

H.E. Dr. Al 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, decarbonise, and deliver long-term sustainable value.”

“We stand at the dawn of a new era of hope and possibility, defined by three megatrends: first, the rise of the global south and emerging markets. Second, the transformation of energy systems, and third, the exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence. These three megatrends present mega opportunities that demand mega solutions,” H.E. Dr. Al Jaber stated.

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%. 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. 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,” Dr. Al 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, he 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.

AI as a transformative solution for the energy industry

To advance ADNOC’s AI strategy, Dr. Al 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 per cent,” H.E. Dr. Al Jaber said.

A unified call to action for the future of energy

In the panel following his address, titled “The new global leaders and the energy transition”, His Excellency Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, stated, “We will need every source of energy for the growth in demand... The lack of investments in oil and gas needs to be taken care of. Here in the United Arab Emirates, our leadership has thought of the future as always, and we are committed to invest in bringing more resources in the future... We are also expanding our investments in renewable energy and are very excited about certain improvements in batteries.”

H.E. Eng. Karim Badawi, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, added, “So, Egypt's position, as a regional hub from a location perspective, enables it to contribute infrastructure in petrochemicals, refining, and energy export. We would like to leverage Egypt’s position to unlock gas reserves of Egypt, the region, and the Mediterranean, monetising them in other markets, bigger in Europe or the West... while also using gas as feedstock in petrochemicals to provide value-added derivatives critical to economic growth, not only in Egypt, but for the world.”

His Excellency Shri Hardeep S Puri, Honourable Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, India, remarked, “It’s all about continuity and change. Today, we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of this platform... The energy situation 40 years ago was very different... India today uses artificial intelligence for refinery automation... and for finding oil and gas. We see the energy situation in the mainstream now and will continue to develop our energy mix.”

Honourable Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, Minister of Energy and Development, Republic of Uganda, shared Uganda’s strategy: “Uganda's participation would be to exploit the potential we have in power generation... Uganda’s energy mix is clean, from hydro power and solar. We also have potential for nuclear... The country has discovered critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel of the best quality. Our investment policy is open to all. We want value addition in Uganda, so that Ugandan people can also benefit in the technology transfer.”

This collaborative dialogue underscores a common global commitment: harnessing AI, renewable resources, and policy frameworks to create a sustainable energy future.