ITP MEDIA GROUP / BUSINESS AUGUST 2021 • VOL. 17, ISSUE 08 AIQ CEO OMAR AL MARZOOQI TELLS US ABOUT THE COMPANY’S FIRST YEAR, HIS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE, AND HOW THIS ADNOC JOINT VENTURE COULD CHANGE THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SPHERE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, NATURAL PROGRESSThe Ariel Smart Compressor. The next generation in compression monitoring, optimization, and management. Our unique electronic platform includes sensors that relay measured data to an onboard central processor that delivers compressor operational and condition data to your preferred location or personal device via the Ariel Fleet Manager. Reduce downtime, cost of ownership, and environmental impact, while operating at peak efficiency with the Ariel Smart Compressor. www.arielcorp.com/arielsmartcompressorAUGUST 2021 / Volume 17 Issue 08 22 Awards Coverage We reveal that nominations for the 2021 Middle East Energy Awards are now open! Check out our full list of categories and find out how to submit a nomination today for a chance to win! 26 Country focus: Oman The most relevant, impor- tant news out of Oman this month, with a brief on six key pieces of news, and an exclusive feature on fire safety engineering with expert Tenable. 18 Talent Development Updates on talent develop- ment, training, and hiring in the oil and gas sector, with a feature on tran- sitioning talent to clean energy work in the future, and relevant news. 12 On the cover: AIQ CEO The CEO of ADNOC’s joint venture with G42 AIQ talks about his plans to develop, commercialise, and scale up artificial intelligence applications across the oil and sector. Highlights in this issue: 12 COVER STORY 3 IN THIS ISSUE oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 20214 IN THIS ISSUE oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 2021 DOWNLOAD IT TODAY ON YOUR iOS, ANDROID OR KINDLE Also inside: App 32 06 / In numbers Rystad Energy says that global recoverable oil levels have fallen 18 / Talent development A special feature on talent development, with comments on what is being done, and how to tackle the energy transition 42 / Last word Why we need remote implementation now, according to Aspen Technology 26 / Oman focus Insight into the important updates coming out of Oman, and a special feature 12 / Cover story: AIQ The CEO of AIQ, ADNOC’s AI joint venture, talks about creating AI applications across the oil and gas value chain 18 12 22 6 KEEP UP-TO-DATE For all the latest news, check out www. oilandgasmiddleeast .com 32 / Project focus Everything you need to know about Bahrain’s offshore Block 1 exploration and production 22 / Awards update Nominations are officially open for the Middle East Energy Awards! Learn about the categories and how to submit a nomination 26 Last month 425 oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 2021 EDITOR’S LETTER Collaborations in the oil and gas industry are fuel for innovation and drive the sector towards the future Collaborative power SUBSCRIBETo subscribe to Oil & Gas Middle East, or other ITP Business titles, go to: www.itp.com/subscriptions. PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: 00 971 4 444 3000 Web: www.itp.com Offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London & Mumbai ITP Media Group CEO: Ali Akawi Managing Director: Alex Reeve Editorial Editor: Carla Sertin Tel: +971 4444 3265 email: carla.sertin@itp.com Advertising Group Sales Manager: Mark Grennell Tel: +971 4444 3202 email: mark.grennell@itp.com Photography Senior Photographers: Efraim Evidor, Adel Rashid Staff Photographers: Aasiya Jagadeesh, Yuliya Petrovich, Jessica Samson, Fritz John Asuro, Ajith Narendra Production & Distribution Group Production & Distribution Director: Kyle Smith Production Manager: Basel Al Kassem Senior Image Editor: Emmalyn Robles Circulation Distribution & Circulation Manager: Evijin Pathrose Circulation Executive: Rajesh Pillai Distribution Coordinator: Avinash Pereira Marketing Director of Awards & Marketing: Daniel Fewtrell ITP Group CEO: Ali Akawi CFO: Toby Jay Spencer-Davies The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader’s particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. Published by and © 2021 ITP MEDIA Group FZ-LLC. THIS ISSUE: The most important news and analysis from Oman, with an exclu- sive feature on fire safety (p26). Thhe oil and gas sector has always relied upon collaboration; what can an operator do without help from EPCs and OFS companies (and vice versa)? The answer is: Not much. But as the region’s oil and gas producers have embraced different forms of collaboration and partnership, we have seen increase foreign investment and interest in the region, and exciting new ideas introduced to our countries. In our cover story this month, we speak with the CEO of AIQ, a joint venture between ADNOC and G42, which is focused on creating, commercialising, and deploying artificial intelligence solutions for the energy sector. It falls in line with what we’ve come to expect; producers are moving away from being technology consumers, and are aiming to become technology providers themselves. Collaboration doesn’t happen without networking, so we’re also excited to announce that nominations are officially open for the 2021 edition of the Middle East Energy Awards, to be held in the UAE on 24 November 2021 as a physical event. We can once more meet together to share ideas, celebrate success despite turbulence, and recognise excellence across the industry. Don’t wait, flip to page 22 and nominate yourself now! Carla Sertin Editor Oil & Gas Middle EastRECOVERABLE OIL DOWN 9% Saudi Arabia still sits on the largest volumes of recoverable oil in the world, followed by the US and Russia Every year and following the publication of the BP Statistical Review, Rystad Energy releases its own assessment to pro- vide an independent, solid and clear comparison of how the world’s energy landscape changed last year. The 2021 review deals a major blow for the size of the world’s remaining recoverable oil resources – but it also shows that oil production and consumption can align with climate goals. Rystad Energy now estimates total recoverable oil resources at 1,725 bil- lion barrels, a significant reduction of 6 IN NUMBERS oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 2021last year’s estimate of 1,903 billion bar- rels. Out of this total, which shows the estimate of how much oil is technically recoverable in the future, about 1,300 billion barrels are sufficiently profit- able to be produced before the year 2100 at a Brent real oil price of $50 per barrel. “In this scenario, global production of oil and natural gas liquids will fall below 50 million barrels per day by 2050. Exploring, developing, process- ing and consuming this amount of commercially extractable oil will lead to gross greenhouse gas emissions of less than 450 gigatonnes of CO¬¬2 from now until 2100. This is com- pliant with IPCC’s carbon budget for global warming limited to 1.8˚C by 2100,” says Rystad Energy’s Head of Analysis, Per Mag- nus Nysveen. US AND CHINA TAKE THE LARG- EST HIT BY THE REVISION: This year’s review of global recover- able oil resources is based on resources mod- elled at well level rather than field level. This more detailed approach has removed 178 billion barrels from the expected accounts as the confidence level for decline rates has increased with the amount of new informa- tion gathered. The updated re- port also includes revisions for proved reserves. Here Rystad Energy applies a set of conservative probabili- ties, as opposed to official reporting by authorities which is deemed less con- sistent. Among other findings, it see significant differences among OPEC members on the longevity of proved reserves, ranging from well below 10 years for some members to almost 20 years for Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In terms of absolute volumes re- moved from non-OPEC producers, remaining recoverable resources in the US are now reduced to 214 billion barrels, losing 30 billion barrels from last year’s estimate. China suffers the second-largest loss with its remain- ing recoverable resources now limited to 50 billion barrels, a downwards revision of 26 billion barrels. Mexico’s recoverable resources are third on the loss list, downgraded by 12 billion bar- rels to 26 billion barrels. Most of this year’s revisions are driven by lower upside potential from shale oil drilling due to complex geology and the need for extensive exploration campaigns and improved fracking technologies. The remaining recoverable resourc- es of OPEC countries are reduced by 53 billion barrels to 741 billion barrels. Iran and Saudi Arabia have the larg- est revisions, losing 11 billion bar- rels each, with Saudi recoverable oil volumes now calculated at 288 billion barrels and Iranian volumes at 101 billion barrels. Iraq follows in third place, seeing its recoverable resources shrink by 8 billion barrels to 110 bil- lion barrels. WHO SITS ON THE LARGEST RE- SOURCES? In this revision, Saudi Arabia keeps the throne as the producer with the largest volumes of recoverable oil resources (288 billion barrels). The US follows second (214 billion barrels), Russia third (149 billion barrels) and Canada fourth (138 billion barrels). In Central and South America, Brazil remains first in recoverable resources, sitting on 83 billion barrels (down 2 billion barrels from last year’s update). In Europe, with 19 billion bar- rels (down by 1 billion barrels in this update), Norway remains ahead of the UK, whose volumes have shrunk by 2 billion barrels to 10 billion. In Africa, resource leader Nigeria lost 6 billion barrels and its recoverable resources are now estimated at 20 billion barrels. Unlike most countries in this analy- sis, Australia’s estimated recoverable oil resources are now seen higher by 2 billion barrels at 23 billion barrels. The time stamp of Rystad Energy’s newest resource assessment is 1 Janu- ary 2021. 7 IN NUMBERS oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 20218 NEWS UPDATE oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 2021 /09 Play/Pause /09 In Quotes /10 #Trending /11 Around the region For the latest news and analysis, visit oilandgasmiddleeast.com Coming up: oilandgasmiddleeast.com OPEC+ has agreed to increase overall production by 400,000 barrels per day every month starting in August 2021 until the total 5.8 million barrel per day production cut has been phased out. The group will reconvene in December 2021 to assess market developments. During the meeting, the group “noted the ongoing strengthening of market fundamentals, with oil demand showing clear signs of improvement and OECD stocks falling, as the economic recovery continued in most parts of the world with the help of ac- celerating vaccination programmes.” The group will continue to hold monthly meet- ings for the duration of the Declaration of Cooperation to continue to assess market conditions and make decisions on produc- OPEC+ agrees to increase overall production after gridlock tion adjustments for the following month. The group aims to end production adjust- ments by the end of September 2022, subject to market conditions. The April 2020 agreement will be extended until 31 December 2022. The group emphasised “the critical importance of adhering to full conformity and taking advantage of the extension of the compensation period until the end of September 2021.” • Decarbonising plastic value chains remains Herculean task Emissions in the chemicals and plastics sector will grow at a rate at odds with Paris commitments without significant intervention • TotalEnergies to advance low- carbon LNG and offshore solutions It will explore concepts and technologies to reduce the carbon footprint in existing offshore and LNG facilities with Technip Energies • AVEVA joins alliance to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 Industrial software leader joins UN Climate Change Global Campaign to unlock inclusive, sustainable growth ADNOC invests $763 million in drilling services ADNOC awarded three contracts worth a combined $763.7 million in integrated rigless services across six of its artificial islands in the Upper Zakum and Satah Al Razboot fields. The contracts were award- ed by ADNOC Offshore to Schlumberger’s share of the award is valued at $381.18 million; ADNOC Drilling’s share is valued at $228.71 million, and Halliburton’s share is valued at $153.87 million. Yaser Saeed Almazrouei, ADNOC Upstream Executive Director, said, “These important awards for integrated rigless services will drive efficiencies of drilling and related services, and optimise costs in our Offshore opera- tions as we ramp up our drilling activities to increase our production capacity and enable gas self-sufficiency for the UAE.” The scope of the contracts includes coiled tubing services with thru-tubing downhole tools, stimulation services, includ- ing equipment and chemicals/ fluid systems, surface well testing services, wireline, and production logging services and tools, saturation monitor- ing, and well integrity. Ahmad Saqer Al-Suwaidi, CEO of ADNOC Offshore, said, “These contracts are an im- portant contributor to ADNOC Offshore’s plans to build our production capacity to over 2 million barrels a day in the coming years to support the ADNOC Group’s smart growth strategy.” ENERGY TRANSITION ADNOC SMART GROWTH ADNOC Offshore plans to increase its produc- tion capacity to more than 2 mbpd9 NEWS UPDATE oilandgasmiddleeast.com AUGUST 2021 Eni has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of hydrogen projects. The parties will con- duct a study into joint projects to produce green hydrogen, using electricity gener- ated from renewables, and blue hydrogen, Eni signs an agreement to produce hydrogen in Egypt The entities will study joint projects in green and blue hydrogen as well as export opportunities through the storage of CO2 in depleted natural gas fields. The study will also ana- lyze the potential local market consump- tion of hydrogen and export opportunities. In addition, possible development and business schemes will be evaluated to implement the selected projects. This is part of Eni’s plan to eliminate Scope 1, 2 and 3 net emissions and cancel out relative RECOVERABLE OIL FALLS 9% Saudi Arabia still sits on the largest volumes of recoverable oil resources, followed by the US and Russia, according to a Rystad Energy assessment. CCS CAPACITY NEEDED In comparison to total emissions level, CCUS capacity is relatively in- significant and requires a collective effort from global government and industry leaders. TOTALENERGIES DUBAI SOLAR TotalEnergies has secured a $34 million debt from APICORP and the NBF to finance the construction of a 50 megawatts Dubai solar portfolio. QATAR/KOREA LNG SUPPLY Qatar Petroleum entered into a 20-year Sale and Purchase Agreement with Korea Gas Corpora- tion (KOGAS) for the supply of 2 MTPA of LNG to the Republic of Korea. PLAY/PAUSE: Who’s moving up in the oil and gas world this month, and who’s falling away? emission intensity by 2050, referring to the entire life cycle of the energy products sold. It comes in the framework of Egypt’s strategy for energy transition, diversify- ing energy mix and developing hydrogen projects in cooperation with major interna- tional companies. Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954 and operates through the subsidiary IEOC Production.Next >