Digital transformation goes hand-in-hand with sustainability - Khalid M. Abdullah

Major technological breakthroughs are providing both producers and consumers of energy the golden opportunity to reduce GHG emissions and forge a pathway to a rapid transition. The role that big data, AI, connected machines, and cloud computing can play in catalysing a rapid transition cannot be underestimated. How are energy leaders deploying new technologies within their organisations and how are they transforming operations? What are the challenges that are impeding the success of project roll out within companies and how can executives co-opt the workforce to maximise the potential of new AI and digital programmes? 

Khalid M. Abdullah

Mr. Abdullah said it was encouraging to hear sustainability and AI being discussed together around the Annual Meeting, as the two are often not seen as complementary. “Artificial intelligence and the digital transformation can provide a lot of benefits that can really help sustainability—improving efficiency and optimizing processes.” QAFCO has been working on its sustainability plan, some of which will be completed by the end of 2023, with the rest following in the first quarter of next year. Part of that is the recently announced construction of a largescale blue ammonia plant. He says digital transformation is one of the company’s main focuses for the coming few years. The resources and systems they have are too complex to be successfully analyzed by people anymore. “You need to have and apply the intelligence tools to really be able to capture this information and analyze it, and try to unlock the opportunity which is hidden under this data.” His team has set a conservative 8% target for production improvements from AI this year, and expects some major achievements. He even plans to use AI to help solve the talent shortage.

Jack E. Azagury

Accenture’s research with 1,500 companies on the next wave transformation identified an 8% group emerging with a new way to transform and differentiate themselves. Azagury calls them the “reinventors,” and they’re making technology not just important, but a core competency to their business.

One of the research questions asked executives, in the event of a recession, if they would accelerate or decelerate investment in technology and digital transformation. On average, 75% would accelerate—a little higher in Europe, a little lower in Asia-Pacific, around the average in North America. So, it appears that most leaders are on board with technology as the spearhead. But another interesting characteristic of the reinventors is that they focused on talent first and foremost.

“The impact of technology on sustainability is significant,” says Azagury. Accenture is working with the World Economic Forum, to identify and improve “net-zero industrial clusters.” They use data to innovate around sharing resources, sharing ideas, figuring out how to optimize the load for the cluster—so, it’s a combination of
digital analytics and managerial collaboration. They have formed 17 clusters so far that account for 450 million tons of CO2. Companies that focus on
technology, cloud data, and AI are really leading the way, says Azagury. “They deliver high revenue growth, lower cost structure, but also they’re two times
more likely to focus on the benefits beyond financial—especially sustainability.”

The impact of technology on sustainability is significant

Saar Yoskovitz

Augury works with large manufacturing, industrial, and oil and gas companies to make the production facilities more reliable, productive, and sustainable. It has over 300 million hours of machine monitoring data feeding its algorithms to deliver new insights and improve accuracy. Yoskovitz says the biggest challenge with most clients has been marrying IT and OT.

“You need a really good strategy for data lake, and cloud and security, and also how it impacts the existing systems you have. How does it work with legacy systems and whatnot.” Where companies are open to collaboration, digital-industrial ecosystems start emerging, like the relationship between Baker Hughes, Microsoft Azure, and Augury. “AI can be used across the board, right from finding the best locations to drill to, in our case, optimizing operations.

So, just a bit of statistics: In the US, 35% of all energy consumption is in industry, and 54% of that is in rotating equipment. We know that predictive maintenance
can reduce energy consumption by up to 20%. So, that’s 4% of the total energy consumption of the US that can be saved just by working better and smarter.”

One of the biggest challenges companies are having is actually a strong partnership between IT and OT