Offshore energy sector adopts agentic AI for autonomous operations

Offshore energy operations are increasingly transitioning from AI that provides information to agentic AI capable of executing sequences of actions with limited supervision. Companies like Petronas are integrating agentic capabilities into data portals, while ADNOC and SLB have deployed real-time operations platforms across more than 120 rigs. Such platforms can reduce engineering effort by 30% to 40% and help prevent downtime.

Other industry leaders are implementing autonomous systems, such as ExxonMobil’s closed-loop autonomous drilling and Woodside’s remote subsea inspection programs. While these technologies reduce personnel exposure and improve consistency, they introduce risks regarding operational authority. Experts suggest that operators implement an ‘authority budget’—a predefined limit on the maximum power an AI system can exercise before requiring human intervention to prevent errors from becoming unintended actions.