ADNOC and G42 sign deal with OpenAI to bring frontier AI into energy operations

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and artificial intelligence firm G42 signed a deal with OpenAI on Monday, November 2, at the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi to deploy advanced AI capabilities across the state energy firm's operations. ADNOC CEO Sultan Al Jaber said ADNOC will be the first company in the energy sector to deploy OpenAI's frontier technology.

Altman: energy is one of AI's challenges

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said energy is one of the challenges the company is facing, adding that its most advanced models would be used to take on the hardest, most valuable problems that ADNOC faces. The deal was announced as Altman met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan while attending the UAE's largest oil and gas gathering.

More Abu Dhabi AI deals signed the same day

The Abu Dhabi Media Office said OpenAI had also signed deals with other Abu Dhabi vehicles, including wealth fund Mubadala and G42 unit Inception42, to apply advanced AI capabilities to investment analysis, opportunity identification and risk assessment. OpenAI is also one of the partners for the first phase of a 5-gigawatt AI data centre project — one of the biggest outside the US — that the UAE is building with American tech companies.

Context: OpenAI is racing to secure new investment commitments

Reuters, citing sources, reported that OpenAI is racing to secure investor commitments before rival Anthropic's expected public market debut in mid-November, including from Abu Dhabi-based MGX, in a fundraising that could value the ChatGPT maker at over $1.4 trillion. That valuation figure comes from sources and has not been confirmed by OpenAI, and the ADNOC deal itself disclosed no financial terms.

Source: Reuters, November 2, 2026.