Gastech Days III & IV: The natural gas-AI nexus & more

As Gastech 2025 entered Days III and IV, and the finish line approached, conversations and dialogues at the event slightly turned from how natural gas would power an AI driven future to how AI itself would serve as an efficiency and decarbonisation enabler for the energy sector, and by extension to hard-to-abate heavy industry segments. 

To this effect, for the past three years, the event's AI-Energy, Climatetech and Hydrogen content streams have been steadily growing alongside signature plenaries. 

The Oilholic is happy to report that this trend continues. Additionally, this year also saw an even higher number of AI exhibitors. And leading global experts also showcased the impacts of new energy solutions such as methane abatement technologies and AI-driven optimisation, while addressing their impacts on rising energy demand and increased electricity consumption.

Yours truly got into the thick of the action via three panels on equally profound subjects on Day III. The first panel was on the topic of decarbonising heavy industrial sectors with e-fuels. 

Fellow panellists included Marco Àlvera, CEO & Co-Founder of TES, Alessandro Bernini, CEO of Maire, Dr Andrew Wood, CEO & Co-Founder of CATAGEN and Steve Esau, Chief Operating Officer of SEA-LNG. We discussed how with the right policies, collaborations and workforce support, sustainable fuels can contribute significantly to building a resilient, low carbon future. While there will be challenges along the way, there will also be opportunities. 

The second panel's topic was all about the unlocking the potential of low consumption AI technologies to accelerate energy transition goals. 

Panellists who joined yours truly for this panel included Uwa Airhiavbere, CCO - Worldwide Energy & Resources at Microsoft, Henri Domenach, Global Head - Energy Management of ENGIE, Parisa Bardouni, SVP & CTO of Aker Solutions, and Manoj Narender Madnani, MD - International at MARA.

Over an engaging and lively post-lunch exchange, we discussed how to activate low energy consumption, high impact AI technologies to deliver on the decarbonisation promise of generative AI.

And third and final panel that brought Day III's proceedings to a close for both the wider event, and this blogger, was on fostering full value chain collaboration to strengthen the market for scalable climate technologies. 

The panellists for this one included Guido D'Aloisio, CCO of Saipem, Yair Reem, Co-Founder & Partner at Extantia Capital, Charlie Sanchez, President - Infrastructure Advisory at Black & Veatch, and Dr. Ahmed El Sherbiny, VP - Energy Transition Fund at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. 

This one dear readers was all about plotting a roadmap for fostering the very sort of collaboration that translates ambition into tangible market impact.

Moving on from the penultimate day to the final morning - on Day IV - it was revealed that this year's Gastech saw nearly 50,000 visitors and attendees from over 150 countries, as this international event grows bigger by the year.

Additionally, next year's host city would be Bangkok, Thailand, as the event rotates back from Europe to Asia, the continent with a burgeoning natural gas demand. Well that's a wrap from Gastech 2025. It's been a memorable, insightful and engaging week out here in Milan. To be continued in Bangkok in 2026. Arrivederci for now. More musings to follow. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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© Gaurav Sharma 2025.