The Ministry of Energy and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), through their joint center (Artificial Intelligence Center for Energy), announced signing two agreements; the first agreement was signed with IBM, which is concerned with accelerating the adoption of a circular carbon economy approach using artificial intelligence, and the second agreement was signed with Siemens Advanta, to develop artificial intelligence solutions for the electricity and renewable energy sector in the Kingdom. Both the Ministry of Energy and SDAIA confirmed that the two agreements were signed with the aim of promoting digital transformation to serve targets of the energy sector and maximize its value.
Moreover, AICE signed, during the 2nd Global AI Summit, which was held in Riyadh, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Halliburton to develop artificial intelligence solutions in the oil and gas industry, in the presence of the Assistant Minister of Energy for Development and Excellence.
The Assistant Minister of Energy for Development and Excellence, Eng. Ahmed Al-Zahrani, said that these agreements, which come under the directives of HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, aims to support the transformation in the area of energy, and achieve the objectives of the "Saudi 2030" vision, by taking advantage of artificial intelligence in several areas, foremost of which is the applications of the circular carbon economy approach, and accelerating transformation in the oil and gas sector, through the development of solutions with modern digital technologies that help improve business, promote sustainability, and develop modern areas related to dealing with carbon dioxide emissions and confronting climate change, such as Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS), and develop technical solutions in the electricity and renewable energy sector.
For his part, the Supervisor of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), Dr. Majid Al-Tuwaijri, said that the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) aims to create a data-centric economy powered by artificial intelligence, by enhancing the value of data in order to achieve the aspirations of the "Saudi 2030" vision. The Supervisor indicated that these agreements contribute to identifying areas through which the Kingdom can develop and apply artificial intelligence capabilities in vital sectors such as energy, to support its efforts to maintain its position within the global elite of economies that rely on data and artificial intelligence.
For her part, the IBM Managing Consulting Partner – KSA, Dina Abo Onoq said that: managing carbon emissions is critical to the Kingdom achieving its objective of achieving net-zero carbon emissions using modern technologies. She pointed out that the company will prepare an artificial intelligence model to identify the volume of carbon emissions and determine their locations throughout the Kingdom.
She indicated that the company, as part of this agreement, will work with AICE to identify high-value applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning to address the energy sector challenges, with a focus on supporting the sustainability objectives in the Kingdom.
In the same context, the CEO of Siemens Saudi Arabia, Ahmad Al-Hawsawi, stated that the agreement signed by his company will support the digital transformation in the Kingdom, to be one of the most technologically advanced countries. Moreover, he expressed his aspiration to formulate common artificial intelligence solutions, by benefiting from the knowledge and experience of Siemens in industry, and by building national competencies in the areas that the AICE focuses on.
