#Oman #energy - Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the Sultanate’s main oil and gas producer has launched an Autonomous Production Programme combining AI, drones, robotics and real-time analytics. The Omani energy group also unveiled a digital twin project, its first agentic AI tools and a five-year digital well construction partnership with oilfield services and technology firms SLB and Halliburton. PDOs automation goals are higher reliability, better safety and lower operating costs. PDO did not disclose investment figures or a timetable.
SO WHAT? - PDO is the producer behind more than 70 percent of Oman’s crude output and nearly all of its gas, so how it runs its fields matters to the national budget. The new Autonomous Production Programme moves the energy company from reacting to faults towards predicting them and, eventually, acting on them autonomously, although under human oversight. No targets for costs or savings have yet been published. However, a producer with 8,000 active wells has plenty of data to put to work and automating practically any process 8,000 times is bound to have an impact on on both efficiency and costs.
KEY POINTS:
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) officially launched its Autonomous Production Programme at the company’s Autonomous and Digital Transformation Day yesterday. The event was held under the auspices of Abdullah Salim Al Harthy, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance.
PDO’s Autonomous Production Programme combines AI, advanced process control, real-time data analytics, drones and robotics. It aims to move operations from reactive problem-solving to predictive, and increasingly autonomous, management of production assets.
The energy group will introduce autonomous decision-making and actions in stages, within established operational controls and under human oversight. The company expects better reliability, safer operations, optimised production and lower operating costs.
The digital twin project will link physical assets with digital models, live operational data and advanced analytics. It is intended to give operators greater visibility of asset performance and support faster, predictive decisions.
PDO announced its first agentic AI initiatives, building on ADAM, its internal generative AI assistant. The tools will go beyond retrieving information to supporting decisions and carrying out defined tasks within governance and control frameworks.
PDO signed a five-year partnership with SLB and Halliburton covering seven integrated digital capabilities that link subsurface planning with well execution. It will also fund specialised training, graduate opportunities and knowledge transfer for Omani talent. Financial terms were not disclosed.
PDO signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with Omani technology company Onsor Technologies to support the adoption of locally developed computing devices across its operations, creating a route for Omani products into an industrial setting.
PDO also introduced Wisal, a digital solution designed to give employees a more connected and integrated working experience across the company.
The announcements form part of PDO’s Journey of Transformation and Ignite Digital initiative, which followed its Hackathon 2.0 in June 2026. PDO’s digital transformation goals support Oman Vision 2040 and its goal of a competitive, innovation-driven digital economy.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: PDO, Oman media
Read more about Oman AI:
Oman consortium plans $3 billion, 400MW AI data centre (Middle East AI News)
Yamna signs £1B+ Oman AI data centre deal (Middle East AI News)
Oman’s O-Green targets 200MW of AI data centres (Middle East AI News)
Omani AI startups almost double in one year (Middle East AI News)
Otech and DeepAstra launch sovereign AI platform (Middle East AI News)