Year 10 of speaking and moderating at ADIPEC nears

Delighted to announce that yours truly will be moderating and speaking at ADIPEC 2026 - the world's largest energy conference and exhibition - in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from November 2 to 5, on a number of panels and executive dialogues. This year's ADIPEC will also be The Oilholic's tenth outing at the event, where energy opportunity takes shape, and one can hardly wait. Super excited, going to drum roll and uncork the ol' champers for this one dear readers! 

Explore ADIPEC's exciting and wide-ranging agenda here. Discussions touch on critical energy issues of our age, geopolitics and technological advancements through industrial AI, automation and advanced computing. More details on The Oilholic's panels and sessions will appear here shortly. 

It's all about energy resource management and transition through innovation, visionary leadership and action.

Looking forward to the deliberations, meeting thought leaders, fellow industry professionals and colleagues. Join, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in Abu Dhabi. 

More from ADIPEC soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Digital banner courtesy of dmgevents. 

Visiting ADNOC's panorama digital command center

Last week, whilst on a business trip to Abu Dhabi, the Oilholic had the pleasure of visiting ADNOC's headquarters for meetings, and view the group's Panorama Digital Command Center. 

Local media describe the center as ADNOC's new age "mission control" hub. The last time this blogger visited it was back in 2019 when functionality was just being built in and embedded across the enterprise, and amplified in a phased manner. 

The Panorama Center of 2026, now fully functional, aggregates real-time information from across all of ADNOC Group’s 14 subsidiaries and joint venture companies. Yours truly got a demonstration of how it uses smart analytical models, AI, and the power of cross-enterprise big data to generate operational insights and recommendations. 

It was explained how at any given point in the business cycle Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Group CEO of ADNOC, and the leadership team can access this data from a device remotely. This access to real-time data and analysis provided by the facility enables simulations and scenario planning, and plays an important role in business continuity. 

Business disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and the Iran War earlier this year, have put the system to test which came out with flying colours. It has added billions in business value in challenging and stable climes alike. 

In a broader sense, the center effectively acts as ADNOC's digital "eyes on the ground" and enables speed, accessibility, and integration across operations, a spokesperson added. So, what exactly are we talking about here?

According to team ADNOC, the center aggregates anywhere between 200,000 and 250,000 live data points from across the business and its subsidiaries from over 55 operating sites - both onshore and offshore. 

The system tracks end-to-end ADNOC activities across its upstream, midstream, and downstream operations. 

It can provide data right down to individual equipment layers like compressors, key business parameters like energy consumption monitoring, flaring metrics, inventory levels, and even data on ADNOC's global maritime fleet of LNG and bulk carriers. Scenario planning, predictive maintenance, and optimising product feed quality from daily up to longer operating horizons are all very much part of the equation. 

If this blogger may add - it is also quite a sight to behold with a 50 metre-long curved screen split by over 120 granular dashboards. The dashboards feed and project group-wide information. This is also accessible via portable devices for key personnel (as mentioned earlier). 

The center uses Schneider Electric's hardware and software, including its subsidiary AVEVA's open management infrastructure and unified supply chain platforms. For context, their wider industry potential was put to readers of this blog in 2024 by the SE unit's CEO Caspar Herzberg. 

Meanwhile, ADNOC continues to invest in its digital transformation and AI (e.g. smart data analytics Thamama Subsurface Collaboration Center, AI-assisted value chain modeling, rock image pattern recognition, and and blockchain-based hydrocarbon accounting, to name a few). Further updates on investments are expected at ADIPEC 2026 in November.

So, dear readers if you imagined a multi-billion dollar energy enterprise being managed from a single room with live data streaming in - that's no longer a future fantasy. It's happening here and now! The Oilholic's thanks to Team ADNOC for giving one another glimpse of it. That's all for now from Abu Dhabi folks! More market musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photos: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma at ADNOC's Panorama Command Center in Abu Dhabi, UAE © ADNOC Group, September 2026.

Media missives from Gastech 2026

With Gastech 2026 drawing to a close, the Oilholic capped a fantastic and engaging week out in Bangkok, Thailand by hosting three pivotal panel sessions on subjects ranging from the transformation of human mobility to the natural gas-AI nexus to regulation of the energy business.

Yours truly also hit the airwaves and spoke to media outlets about the energy market and developments at the conference. The first broadcasting call was with the TRT World, followed by Asharq Bloomberg, and the final one with Energy Connects. This blogger's week also included plenty of other missives via the keyboard for Forbes, Energy Connects and of course, via this blog.

All blog entries for Gastech 2026 may be found here, and here's an Energy Connects preview of the event. And here are selected Forbes copies based on soundbites and insight from the event. 

• Europe Faces ‘Decades-Low’ Winter Natural Gas Storage Levels, September 21, 2026
• Data Center Boom Driving LNG Demand Uptick In Southeast Asia, September 22, 2026

More market musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma speaks on Asharq Bloomberg, September 16, 2026. © Courtesy Asharq Bloomberg, September 2026.

Gastech 2026 Days III & IV: Deals and dialogues galore

As Gastech 2026 entered its home stretch, alongside the deep dives came news of mega-deals. According to data gathered by various stakeholders and the event's organisers, billions of dollars in energy agreements were seen moving from discussion to delivery in Bangkok. 

By the end of day three, memoranda of understanding, supply agreements and investment commitments with a combined estimated value of $40 billion were either announced or advanced at Gastech.

Among the many deals and MoUs, the four that stood out for this blogger include - (1) China Gas Holdings and Venture Global LNG's 20-year sales and purchase agreement for 0.5 mtpa of US LNG from 2030, (2) GE Vernova and B.Grimm Power's agreements on natural gas-turbine supply and long-term services, aimed at new and existing power-generation capacity in Malaysia and Thailand, (3) PETRONAS, PTTEP JDA and the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority's formalisation of a 35-year production-sharing contract and natural gas sales agreement in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area, delivering new natural gas supply to both countries, and (4) Samsung Heavy Industries' $1.2 billion order for LNG carriers and crude oil tankers, adding to the fleet capacity required to keep global energy trade moving.

As the deals flowed, Gastech's 800-plus speakers - present company included - advanced the event's discourse about the future of energy security, sustainability and affordability. 

A huge part of that is human mobility - the subject of this blogger's final moderating engagement of Gastech 2026 with Pras Ganesh, EVP & CISO, Toyota Motors Asia. 

We discussed the topic - Mobility in motion: What emerging markets teach us about real-world energy transitions. 

As the global energy transition gathers pace, emerging markets across the Global South are charting pragmatic pathways shaped by affordability, access, and rapid demand growth. Nowhere is this more visible than in mobility, where alternative fuels and electrification are unfolding in diverse and often unexpected ways. 

Ganesh explored how these markets are integrating power systems, digital technologies, and investment to support cleaner transport. Drawing on real-world experience across Southeast Asia, he shared his perspectives on how real customer needs are driving innovation, offering lessons for building resilient, inclusive, and economically viable energy systems for mobility.

The Oilholic also took time out for some energy market commentary onsite in interviews with TRT World, Asharq Bloomberg, and Energy Connects, given the situation in the Middle East. 

Elevated geopolitical risks have made the market very jittery to every new security development in the region. It's all making near-term modelling very difficult. Supply-side complications will persist for a while even if the security situation were to ease imminently. 

For yours truly, the latest moving part - disruption to the flow of the Saudi East-West pipeline - remains a big driver of elevated prices as Aramco is/was using it to mitigate the effects export constriction via the Strait of Hormuz. 

Of course, Hormuz, Ukraine-Russia and (currently) Libya are also pushing prices to the upside, while US light sweet crude is keeping a lid on a pricing overshoot to $150/bbl. 

But the global market and refining complex needs a variety of crude oils, and US light sweet crude at Asian hubs can only help so much. More so, with the shipping costs associated with it. Thanks to all the broadcasters who carried one's 'crude' thoughts. 

And as the event neared its conclusion on day four, it was revealed that 50,000-plus attendees from 150 countries, and 800+ exhibitors came to Gastech 2026. Next year, the event will return to the energy capital of the US - Houston. 

And that's a wrap from Bangkok folks! More market musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

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To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Gastech 2026, Bangkok, Thailand. Photo II: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma (left) with Pras Ganesh, EVP & CISO, Toyota Motors Asia © dmgevents, September 2026. Photo III collage: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma speaks on TRT World, Asharq Bloomberg and Energy Connects. © Courtesy TRT World, Asharq Bloomberg and Energy Connects, September 2026.

Releasing Schneider Electric's latest automation research at Gastech

On Tuesday, at Gastech 2026, the Oilholic was delighted to release the latest instalment of Schneider Electric's global automation research on the energy sector that this blogger contributed to. 

The project is part of one's ongoing partnership with Schneider Electric. At the release, the Oilholic was joined by Devan Pillay, President of Schneider’s Heavy Industries Segment (left) and Ryoko Aoyagi, Country President of Schneider Japan (centre). 

The global study suggested that Asia ranks second in current autonomous maturity, just behind GCC, but aims to lead the pack in five years. More details on the findings are available here. Have a read. Your feedback, dear readers, is always appreciated. 

More musings to follow soon from Bangkok as Gastech progresses and the energy dialogues advance over the coming days. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo: © Schneider Electric, September 2026.

Gastech 2026 Days I & II: 'Transition fuel' to 'pillar of resilience'

The first two days of Gastech 2026 - which officially runs from September 14 to 17 in Bangkok, Thailand - have flown by with senior energy officials, CEOs and global industry experts finding common ground in regarding natural gas as a "pillar of resilience" for powering up the global economy. 

That's a marked contrast to the covid pandemic years leading up 2023, when renewables were all the rage and natural gas was labelled a "transition fuel." 

The proliferation of datacentres and AI, pivot of nations to a digital future and electrification has brought home the realisation that renewables alone cannot by any stretch of anyone's imagination meet the rising power demand. The perceived abundance of natural gas and rising US LNG exports - that have effectively resulted in a US to Asia LNG corridor - is certainly helping. 

In the words of Akanat Promphan, Thailand’s Minister of Energy, and hosting dignitary for this year's Gastech, energy security is not an isolated challenge that each country can address independently. 

Promphan added in his opening remarks that he is committed to strengthening supply resilience and accelerating energy delivery both at home and across ASEAN predicated on a natural gas a firm part of the regional energy mix.

The region and indeed the world it seems is coming around to that conclusion too. That's as the first of Gastech's 200 sessions spread across 15 programmes got underway. Among them were your's truly's first two engagements. The first of these was a Gastech Energy Talk series discuss with Dr. Harald Link, Chairman of B.Grimm Power. We explored how LNG can strengthen energy resilience and support sustainable economic growth across Thailand and the wider region.

Link offered viewpoints on the role of LNG in a rapidly evolving energy landscape, highlighting the need for energy strategies that balance affordability, reliability and long-term sustainability and "the importance of building a compassionate energy ecosystem" that balances consumer affordability with investment certainty, while strengthening fuel security, system stability and the reliable energy foundation needed for inclusive economic growth.

The Oilholic's second engagement over the first two days was a strategic dialogue with Dr. Poonpat Leesombatpiboon, Secretary General of Energy Regulatory Commission of Thailand, Hasan OZKOC, Secretariat Director, MEDREG - Mediterranean Energy Regulators, and Laura Swett, Chairman, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

The panel explored how effective regulation can support investment, strengthen resilience and advance the energy transition. In particular, Swett provided good cheer for the market highlighting the potential for US energy resources to support both domestic and international markets.

“America and FERC, working together, can position both the American economy and those of our international allies to expand and grow through the abundance of resources that we have in America," Swett noted. 

"We have more than enough to power our grid and meet exponential demand, but also to support grids all over the world." 

More musings to follow soon from Bangkok as Gastech progresses and the energy dialogues advance over the coming days. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma at Gastech 2026. Photo II: Akanat Promphan, Thailand’s Minister of Energy speaks at Gastech 2026. Photo III: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma (left) with with Dr. Harald Link, Chairman, B.Grimm Power. Photo IV: (Left to right) Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma moderates Gastech 2026 strategic dialogue with Dr. Poonpat Leesombatpiboon, Secretary General, Energy Regulatory Commission of Thailand, Hasan OZKOC, Secretariat Director, MEDREG - Mediterranean Energy Regulators, and Laura Swett, Chairman, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. © dmgevents, September 2026.

Gastech 2026 sessions to be hosted by yours truly

The Oilholic is delighted to be back speaking and moderating at Gastech 2026 being held this year in Bangkok, Thailand. One of the world's largest natural gas conference and exhibition of its kind will run here from September 14 to 17. 

Yours truly will be hosting three sessions at the event with distinguished industry leaders from energy sector and its entire value chain. 

Please do join if you can for some fantastic and insightful industry dialogues. Here are the details of the sessions:

Monday, 14 September 2026 | 13:00 - 13:20 ICT 

Empowering the world compassionately: Reimagining LNG’s role and resilience in Thailand2

Strategic Conference - Energy Talk Session 

With:

• Dr. Harald Link, Chairman, B.Grimm Power

Monday, 14 September 2026 | 16:15 - 16:45 ICT

Regulate or stagnate: The policy choices that will define the next decade

Strategic Conference Session - Executive Leadership Panel

With: 

• Dr. Poonpat Leesombatpiboon, Secretary General, Energy Regulatory Commission of Thailand
• Hasan Ozkoc, Secretariat Director, MEDREG
• Laura Swett, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

Tuesday, 15 September 2026 | 12:15 - 12:35 ICT

Mobility in motion: What emerging markets teach us about real-world energy transitions

Strategic Conference - Energy Talk Session 

With: 

• Pras Ganesh, EVP & CISO, Toyota Mobility Foundation

More musings to follow soon from Bangkok. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

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To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Session details imagery © dmgevents, September 2026.

Speaking and moderating at Gastech 2026

Delighted to announce that The Oilholic will be speaking and moderating at Gastech Exhibition & Conference 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand, from September 14 to 17.

Explore the event's exciting agenda here. 

The year's event will serve as a vital platform for progressing the global energy agenda amid rising demand, accelerating electrification and growing energy security challenges. 

Convening ministers, CEOs, policymakers, investors, technologists and myriad industry movers and shakers, Gastech's multiple conference streams will address the partnerships, investments and strategic actions required to enhance resilience, secure supply and drive sustainable economic growth. 

Looking forward to the deliberations, meeting old friends from the industry and making new ones. Register here as a delegate and join The Oilholic, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in Bangkok this September. 

Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Critical Mass click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Digital banner courtesy of dmgevents, August 2026.

That's a wrap from Energy Projects Conf & Expo 2026

The Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 concluded on Wednesday with further discussions on AI solutions aimed at delivering next generation of projects. 

Delegates heard how generative engineering was slashing design-to-groundbreaking cycles by 50% through automated layout optimisation and AI-driven simulation.

Later in the afternoon, Lindsay See, Commissioner, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said the authority was working toward fair and predictable permitting as project sponsors and regulators confront grid infrastructure and supply costs. 

Away from the plenaries, the Oilholic took time out to head to the event's expo where over 400-plus exhibitors were out in full force courting business in the EPC sphere and displaying their state of the art solutions for the industry. 

Overall, the conference and expo saw over 7,000 attendees, and more than 250 speakers - present company included - who spoke across five content streams. Yours truly also took time out to record the next Schneider Electric insight video while out here in America's energy capital. 

Hany Fouda, Senior Vice President, Process, Discrete & Hybrid Automation Industrial Automation Business and André Marino, SVP Industrial Automation North America, Schneider Electric, discussed some of the biggest shifts they are currently seeing in how EPCs are approaching automation and digitalisation. 

We also discussed the company's EcoStruxure Foxboro Software-Defined Automation products - the industry’s first open, software-defined Distributed Control System. It was launched by Schneider Electric earlier this year. Watch this space, details and the video coming soon! 

And that's a wrap from the Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026. It's almost time to head back home to London from Houston folks! More market musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma at the Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 in Houston, Texas, US on June 16, 2026. © Gaurav Sharma, June 2026. Photo II: (L to R) Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma, Hany Fouda, Senior Vice President, Process, Discrete & Hybrid Automation Industrial Automation Business, and André Marino, SVP Industrial Automation North America, Schneider Electric, speak at the Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 in Houston, Texas, US on June 16, 2026. © Schneider Electric, June 2026.

Talking "co-innovation" & energy investment at EPC26

The Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 got underway in Houston, US on Tuesday incorporating dialogues on engineering, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance across LNG, power, midstream, downstream and emerging energy segment under the theme "Where Energy Projects Get Built."

The Oilholic got straight into proceedings on the opening morning with an executive fireside briefing on the topic "Resilience by design: Building adaptive, digital operations now" at the event's main plenary stage.  

The panellists included André Marino, SVP Industrial Automation North America, Schneider Electric, Chris Scheefer, EVP Global AI, Energy & Chemicals at Capgemini, and William Barrett, VP Product Development, Oxy subsidiary 1PointFive.

The timing and the setting for such a discussion couldn't have been more ideal. By some estimates, the US is in the middle of the largest energy buildout in a generation stretching from major LNG projects to offshore exploration, utility-scale renewables to nuclear. 

Industry projections suggest the US is committing $9.1 trillion to energy infrastructure through to 2038. With the proliferation of hyperscale datacenters profoundly altering power (water and cooling solutions) demand scenarios, this need not come as a surprise. 

In the face of this, the industry can no longer rely on legacy delivery and operating models to service a US economy premised on digitization and automation, twin facets in turn underpinned by electrification.

Under these new pressures, the panel discussed how project sponsors, EPCs and their industrial & software partners need to build smart, agile and resilient foundations, or shall we say “co-innovate.”

It was a great discussion with the panellists offering pragmatic solutions, some reality checks and learnings from their respective experience. 

We also discussed how the change required isn't incremental but architectural, as well how the industry’s contracting and governance structures that were built for a previous era need to be revisited in the age of digital automation and AI. 

To quote Schneider Electric's Marino, the next era of US energy infrastructure will not be won by organisations that build the most but by those that build differently — unifying electrification, automation, and digital intelligence from day one, designing resilience in rather than bolting it on, and turning every hour of operational continuity into margin. That investment window is indeed open now. 

Elsewhere, away from the plenary stage, leadership sessions kicked-off along several different content silos including LNG Engineering & Construction, LNG Investment & Finance, Midstream Engineering & Construction, Nuclear EPC, Petrochemicals, Refining & SAF and Power Generation EPC over the course of an engaging opening day of proceedings. 

Never far away from the conference halls were discussions among delegates on the currently  falling oil price and speculative details of the deal between Washington and Tehran to hopefully conclude the Iran War. 

Both Brent and WTI were down by 11% on Monday, over the previous week as the market awaits formal details of the agreement. Then begins the long march toward market normalisation which may take better parts of six to seven months. That's all for now folks! More market musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

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To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma at the Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 in Houston, Texas, US on June 16, 2026. © Gaurav Sharma, June 2026. Photo II: (L to R) Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma, André Marino, SVP Industrial Automation North America, Schneider Electric, Chris Scheefer, EVP Global AI, Energy & Chemicals at Capgemini and William Barrett, VP Product Development, Oxy subsidiary 1PointFive speak at an Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 panel in Houston, Texas, US on June 16, 2026. © Schneider Electric, June 2026.

Speaking at Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026

Delighted to announce that yours truly be speaking and moderating at the Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026, headline sponsored by Schneider Electric. It is due to be held in Houston, Texas, US from June 16 to 17.

This vital industry event incorporates dialogues on engineering, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance across LNG, power, midstream, downstream and emerging energy under the theme "Where Energy Projects Get Built."

The Oilholic's engagements will include industry dialogues and executive firesides held as part of the event's plenary programme.

For more details on the event and its exciting agenda click here.

Really looking forward to the deliberations, meeting thought leaders and friends. Join, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in Houston.

Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Critical Mass click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo: Energy Projects Conference & Expo 2026 / Easyfairs.

And that's a wrap from OPTIMIZE 26

OPTIMIZE 26 entered its home stretch on Thursday following a memorable and insightful week out here in Houston. That's as the last of the event's 150+ sessions concluded and gave way to software training days. 

Over the course of an engaging week, the Oilholic had both on and off-record conversations about the energy industry's embrace of agentic AI.

It appears to be the inexorable direction of travel for an industry that's been talking about it quite loudly since 2023. In fact, industrial AI has become routine, and companies are going from reactive to proactive mode. 

AI-assisted recommendations are getting embedded directly into operations. But many executives from ExxonMobil to Versalis, TotalEnergies to Repsol also called for sensible, pragmatic and targeted AI deployment at OPTIMIZE and urged caution on the hype.

To put it in the words of one senior executive - "go for technology initiatives and implementation where there is a real need to create value, not for the sake of it." One such arena is AI-driven asset performance management. 

That's where the latest technology has moved the needle considerably via operators' co-developed solutions with industrial software vendors like AspenTech. Many sessions at OPTIMIZE offered case studies of operator-vendor collaboration resulting in tangible throughput gains for major energy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals plant operators, nearly 2,500 of whom AspenTech counts among its core users' group. 

Over the last 15 months, such collaboration, feedback and software development is what led to the launch of AspenTech's AVA AI earlier this week, with the platform offering "agentic, domain-aware AI capabilities," according to the company's CTO and a name familiar to the readers of this blog - Claudio Fayad.

Alongside his peers and customers, the AspenTech CTO also emphasised on the critical importance of quality data, its gathering, management and governance that underpins AI tools, as well as the multi-billion dollar market for data fabric solutions. 

Speaking of which, here's is yours truly's latest Forbes piece where you can read all about data fabrics. 

"Ultimately, both our customers and us are striving for operational agility based on intelligent software-enabled decision making. The need for this is growing in today's volatile climate where operators face uncertainties on input costs, and various other challenges from interest rates to skill gaps," Fayad noted.

Fayad also said that the cycle of software product enhancements and updates is also getting shorter by each passing year. 

"So, we need to constantly innovate, or shall I say co-innovate or co-develop with process industries. We embrace that challenge and the approaching horizon."

Unsurprisingly, the role and deployment of quality data and AI featured throughout the event's process industries content stream across executive leadership, concurrent engineering, control & optimize, planning & scheduling, manufacturing execution and supply chain management, subsurface science & engineering and asset performance management conference tracks.

And as the end of the week approached, OPTIMIZE 26 drew to a spectacular close with an event finale at Houston's Daikin Park where attendees had a great evening seeing the home baseball team Houston Astros take on the Seattle Mariners.

That's a wrap from OPTIMIZE 26 and Houston folks! More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma, May 2026. Photo I: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma at OPTIMIZE 26 in Houston, US. Photo II: Claudio Fayad, CTO of AspenTech (left) with Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma at OPTIMIZE 26. Photo: Houston Astros versus Seattle Mariners at Daikin Park, May 13, 2026 © Photo: Gaurav Sharma, May 2026. 

Hosting OPTIMIZE 26's executive track & launch of AVA

As OPTIMIZE 2026 entered its second day, yours truly got involved in the proceedings by hosting and moderating the event's Executive Track designed to directly bring in industry C-Suites to discuss the approaching horizon for process industries with their peers.

The first of two topics for the Oilholic's panels was 'Modeling & Optimization: Navigating Uncertainty and Preparing for the Next Generation' with panelists Bharat Newalkar, Head of Research and Development, BPCL, Juan Carlos Ramirez, Value Chain Optimization Director, Repsol, Szabolcs Szabo, Senior Vice President, Value Chain, MOL Group and Vikas Dhole, Senior Vice President, Modeling & Optimization, AspenTech. 

The second panel's topic was 'Unlocking Enterprise-Wide Value with AI' with panelists Leon de Bruyn, CEO, Lummus, Raphael Duflos, Vice President, General Manager Port Arthur Platform, TotalEnergies, Ed Sanderson, Global Lead, Reliability Engineering, Takeda and Heiko Claussen, Chief Technologist, AI, AspenTech. 

The dialogues were on a closed-door basis in a free-flowing and engaging format with plenty of audience participation. While the Oilholic cannot blog about specific points made by the panellists and their audience of industrial technology C-Suites, the discussion largely revolved around deploying AI, strengthening data foundations and scaling optimisation strategies to manage volatility, protect profitability and achieve measurable business outcomes. 

Some candid executive perspectives and practical insights on what it takes to lead – rather than react – in an increasingly unpredictable world were put forward which will undoubtedly come to the fore as the industry continues to innovate.

Speaking of innovation (and, of course, AI), earlier in the day's proceedings, Emerson launched AspenTech AVA - its new industrial scale enterprise-wide AI platform. The company claims it is specifically designed for industries to accelerate AI adoption across the enterprise for measurable business impact. 

A spokesperson told this blogger the platform offers "agentic, domain-aware AI capabilities" with "the agility, efficiency and autonomy companies need to respond faster to operating conditions, continuously improve performance using trusted domain context and act with greater confidence through AI-assisted recommendations embedded directly in operations."

You can have a sample interaction here. 

The developers claim it is all about helping AspenTech customers to find practical ways to apply AI safely and effectively in real operating conditions. 

AspenTech CTO Claudio Fayad told the Oilholic his team have been refining the product for over 12 months prior to launch, embedding Emerson's longstanding industrial expertise and first-principles directly into AVA's operational skills and workflows while leveraging large language models. 

"In doing so, AVA enables companies to deploy the power of generative AI as a trusted operational capability and to build an enterprise operations platform that connects data, context and decision-making across the organization. We believe it provides a practical way to accelerate AI adoption to deliver repeatable, scalable operational impact,” Fayad concluded.

Exciting times folks, let's see where this goes. Here's wishing Team AspenTech well in their efforts. That's all for now, more musings from here to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma moderates a session at OPTIMIZE 26 in Houston, US on May 12, 2026. © AspenTech, May 2026.

'Powering Performance' at OPTIMIZE 26

It's a pleasure, as always, to be back in Houston for OPTIMIZE 26 - the flagship biennial event of Emerson's Aspen Technology business.

This year's event convenes under the core theme of 'Powering Performance.' It also happens to be the first in the series since AspenTech's acquisition by Emerson last year. 

The event has drawn delegates from over 40 countries, 20 industries and will have 150 sessions along two key content silos - process industries (the focus area for this blogger) and power & utilities, alongside an executive leadership track. 

As AI, big data and machine learning become an integral part of the energy and petrochemicals landscape, and talk of agentic AI gets louder, OPTIMIZE 26 is taking place at critical time for the sector, with many movers and shakers in town to discuss a software-led future for their companies. 

On Monday, the senior leadership of AspenTech were joined by many of those for the event's opening keynotes to apprise the industry of their latest efforts, and partnership with the software firm to improve throughput and efficiencies, reduce downtime, bring about predictive maintenance, and more. 

Vincent Servello, President of AspenTech, noted that for much of the process industries landscape, software has become mission critical. 

AspenTech is accelerating it's investment in AI, particularly so in the case of AI-driven asset performance management and the agentic AI environment, he added. 

Servello's remarks set the stall for key industry executives to offer their viewpoints. They included Dylan Pugh, Vice President of engineering at ExxonMobil, Adriano Alfani, CEO of Versalis, Emmanuelle Brechet, Vice President of data technologies at TotalEnergies. 

Servello and the industry executives were flanked by Claudio Fayad, CTO of Aspentech, Heiko Claussen, Chief Technologist, AspenTech and Vikas Dhole, SVP, Modeling & Optimization, AspenTech. 

The AspenTech spokespeople emphasised on leveraging data and software to enhance agility, efficiency and autonomy across industries at a time of rising uncertainties, complicated geopolitics and volatile input costs. 

In a fireside chat with AspenTech President Servello, Pugh of ExxonMobil, touched on why software had become a differentiator but also expressed his thoughts on smart, strategic deployment of it and not opting for AI solutions just for the fear of missing out. 

In an exchange with AspenTech CTO Fayad, Alfani of Versalis explained how software solutions and its partnership with AspenTech helped the company's shift from base chemicals to biochem and circularity at its European assets, where the traditional chemicals segment was proving to be very challenging. 

And in a presentation, Brechet of TotalEnergies, spoke on how software was central to the French supermajor's drive to boost operational excellence, save costs, and reduce emissions. Overall, a great start to the event. That's all for now folks! More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2026. Photo I: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma at OPTIMIZE 26 in Houston, US. Photo II:  Vincent Servello, President of AspenTech (left) in a fireside chat with Dylan Pugh, Vice President of Engineering at ExxonMobil. Photo III: AspenTech CTO Claudio Fayad (left) with Adriano Alfani, CEO of Versalis. © Gaurav Sharma, May 2026.