Dennis Jol

In 2025, operators sought tangible proof, not promises, of artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) impact on their workflows. AIQ was at the forefront, demonstrating measurable value and real-world deployment. Now, as we enter 2026, digitisation of the energy sector has clearly emerged as a megatrend, and AI is becoming embedded across the entire value chain. I was appointed to my role at AIQ mid-2025, and penning this note reminds me why I was drawn to this opportunity from the very beginning. After two decades in the energy industry, it was clear to me that the widescale deployment of digital innovations represented the next frontier for unlocking growth and efficiency. AIQ offered a unique mandate, which is to build and deploy AI-enabled solutions grounded in actual operational needs, shaped in close collaboration with industry experts. From the control room to the boardroom, the imperative was unmistakable – to empower professionals with technology that reinforces their confidence and elevates the quality of every decision. This mission guided everything we pursued in 2025.

At the start of the year, we set three clear intentions. Scale and broaden the solutions that have already been proven; deepen the partnerships that shape technology around real operational needs; and deliver measurable, reliable improvements for the teams we serve. Most importantly, our progress was driven by the experience and talent of our people, who have a unique understanding of the technology, but also the realities of industrial operations.
Working in the UAE brings an added sense of purpose. The country’s leadership provides a clear and forward-looking vision, particularly through national AI and energy strategies to which we are proud to contribute. We also benefit from an exceptionally supportive environment for AI development. Initiatives such as the 5GW UAE-US AI Campus and Stargate UAE exemplify how public–private collaboration is creating an enabling landscape that accelerates progress and rivals the most advanced innovation hubs globally. Within this context, ENERGYai, our first-in-the-world at-scale agentic AI framework, stood out as a major milestone achieved in 2025. Introduced to the world as a bold vision in November 2024, ENERGYai progressed from concept to deployment in less than a year, supported by a team of hundreds. Along the way, it secured a $340m three-year commercial agreement for rollout across upstream operations in the UAE.

Continued success in the UAE remains a key performance indicator for us, though international expansion is also integral to our mission to leave no operator behind in the AI revolution. Our collaboration with SKK Migas in Indonesia is just one example of our intent to enter new markets internationally and support AI-led digital transformation of energy operations wherever it makes sense to. We also announced early-stage collaboration and pilots in Colombia and Kazakhstan, and we look forward to sharing developments in these and other geographies in 2026 and beyond.

Looking at the year ahead, our purpose remains unwavering – to liberate energy through intelligence, and to fulfil the needs and aspirations of societies around the world. Our solutions are driving positive impact on operations today, and the beauty of AI is that the longer it operates and the more data it ingests, the more accurate its analysis, predictions, and impact become.

We will continue building secure and responsible AI for high-stakes industrial environments, fulfilling our mandate to take UAE-built technology to the world, grounded in the belief that AI should be accessible to all.
I am proud of our people and of what we achieved in 2025. The focus now is to carry this positive momentum forward with the responsibility this transformational technology warrants.