KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has established an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence (AI CoE) to accelerate the advancement in AI solutions through collaboration with a network of global partners.

In a statement today, the national oil company said the first round of collaborations, involving Baker Hughes, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Microsoft, was formalised recently via three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2022.

Petronas chief digital officer Aadrin Azly said the AI CoE would leverage diverse expertise from its internal resources and other industry players to grow an ecosystem that both accelerated value delivery and cultivated AI talent.

BCG managing director, senior partner and head of Southeast Asia Jaime Ruiz-Cabrero said the partnership would bring together BCG Gamma’s deep AI expertise and Petronas’ deep experience on applying AI use cases in the energy value chain.

"Together we will accelerate the use of AI to unlock significant value for Petronas, the energy sector and Malaysia.

"This is an important step for Malaysia to become established as a hub for top AI talent in the region,” he said.

Microsoft Malaysia managing director K Raman said research showed that AI could potentially create up to six million new jobs in Malaysia by 2030 and this presented the need to nurture and equip Malaysian talents with future-ready AI skills.

Petronas said through the AI CoE, Petronas would work with the partners to innovate, develop and potentially commercialise AI solutions by leveraging each other’s technologies, expertise and experience.

It said this is a step forward in Petronas’ continuous journey in advocating the usage of AI to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of its energy value chain. — Bernama