AI now a top-two priority for 62% of energy leaders as the sector moves from pilots to operations
The third annual Powering Possible report from ADNOC, XRG and Microsoft, titled Energy Resilience in the Intelligence Era, finds that 62% of energy leaders now rank artificial intelligence among their top two corporate priorities, up from just 42% in 2025, a sign that the sector is moving from experimentation to real implementation.
Based on a survey of almost 400 senior energy and finance leaders, the report shows that 89% increased AI spending over the past year, while 63% expect returns on existing investments to cover or exceed their costs. The share of organisations running integrated agentic AI workflows more than doubled from 15% to 33%, while those still piloting isolated applications fell from 35% to 15%. Among energy-industry respondents, 60% are already piloting or deploying autonomous and robotic systems in physical operations, from inspecting infrastructure to carrying out hazardous tasks.
The definition of value is also changing. Supply stability and reliability is now the most cited measure of AI's contribution, at 39% compared with 26% last year, while the share naming cost savings as the leading contribution fell from 19% to 13%. Some 86% of leaders say global energy supply has become more complex and harder to predict over the past five years, and 57% see optimising power flows, dispatch and balancing as the area where AI can contribute most to the energy transition.
At the same time, 74% of leaders expect AI to increase energy consumption by 2030, yet only 52% are confident existing infrastructure can meet the extra demand. Grid modernisation and smart-grid technologies top the investment priorities at 67%, followed by energy storage at 42%. Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO and Executive Chairman of XRG, said AI is creating "significant new opportunities" for the energy industry and that energy and technology "must advance together". The report comes ahead of the fourth ENACT Majlis in Abu Dhabi and ADIPEC 2026, which runs in the capital from 2 to 5 November.
Al Majlis Analysis: The report's figures show that the energy sector no longer treats AI as a side experiment but as a day-to-day operating tool, judged by how well it secures supply rather than by cost savings alone. The bigger paradox is that a technology promising to make energy use more efficient will also raise demand for it: three in four leaders expect consumption to rise, yet only about half trust existing infrastructure to cope. That favours countries that plan energy and data together, the UAE among them, combining major energy companies with large investments in data centres. Publishing the report just before ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi gives the debate extra weight, because the question is no longer whether AI will be used, but how to build grids that can run it safely and reliably.