By: Zawya

The energy industry isfacing a triple whammy of rising demand from artificial intelligence, ageinggrids, and geopolitical uncertainty, resulting in greater demand for oil, gas,and renewables.

This was the dominantmessage from this year’s Adipec panel, “Energy diversity and demand in a‘Yes-and’ world”, where energy executives and policymakers traded idealism forrealism. The consensus was the energy transition must be about addition, notsubstitution.

“Seven hundred millionpeople still have no access to electricity, and two billion lack reliablesupply,” said Mariam Almheiri, Group Chief Executive of 2.0 and the UAE’sformer Minister for Climate Change.

“Add to that thepower-hungry growth of AI and data centres, and you realise this is a newreality. We have to keep the lights on, power the AI economy, and make sure noone gets left behind.”

Pragmatism overpurity

Pragmatism was thereigning theme of the discussion. Murray Auchincloss, CEO of bp, admitted thatthe company’s strategy had “shifted significantly” since 2020. “When we set outour transition strategy, the world changed,” he said. “War, hyperscalers, andnational energy security concerns have all pushed governments to say, we needas much affordable, local energy as we can get. So we’ve adapted.”

That adaptation meansbp has scaled back its renewable power ambitions and doubled down on profitabletransition areas such as biogas, EV charging, and carbon sequestration. “We’restill committed to decarbonising,” Auchincloss added, “but we have to operatewhere we can make money and where it competes with our broader portfolio.”

Patrick Pouyanné,Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, echoed the sentiment but with a twist. “Theworld needs more energy and fewer emissions,” he said. “Electricity will be thefastest-growing energy form, and AI is only accelerating that, but we must recognisethat molecules and electrons are not in opposition. We need both.”

Pouyanné defendedcontinued investment in hydrocarbons, arguing that the “wrong narrative” ofhalting oil investment had created unrealistic expectations. “We have a naturaldecline of five to six per cent in oil fields each year. To maintain supply, wemust keep investing,” he said. “It’s not about money; it’s about finding theright opportunities and maintaining resilience.”

Renewables aregrowing, but not fast enough

Sumant Sinha, Founderand CEO of ReNew, offered a clear-eyed view of renewable energy’s limitationsand promise. “Renewables make up just 15 per cent of electricity today, andelectricity itself is only a quarter of total energy use,” he noted. “So we’retalking about just 4 per cent to 5 per cent of the overall energy mix. Thejourney has barely begun.”

In the next 20 years,renewables could rise to 50–60 per cent of electricity generation, said Sinha,adding, “Solar is now the cheapest new source of power globally. The bottleneckisn’t technology; it’s infrastructure. We need grids that can cope.”

He also warned againstover-reliance on China’s manufacturing dominance. “Virtually every clean-techproduct — solar panels, batteries, turbines, for instance — is 70 per cent to90 per cent controlled by one country,” he said. “That’s not sustainable. Theworld must diversify its energy supply chains.”

The AI multiplier

If one force isupending all forecasts, it is artificial intelligence. “We see energy demandfrom power rising from 1 per cent to 10 per cent of the global economy within adecade — driven by AI,” said bp’s Auchincloss.

Both he and Pouyannédescribed AI as a “game changer” for operational efficiency. bp’s partnershipwith Palantir, for example, has lifted uptime in its plants to 97 per cent,while AI-driven analytics in service stations have cut waste by nearly half.

At TotalEnergies, AIis central to optimising refineries and forecasting renewable output. “A 1 percent increase in production from better data is enormous,” said Pouyanné. “Itmeans more energy with fewer emissions. AI won’t replace humans; it willmultiply our capacity to act.”

Integration, notideology

For Almheiri, thebridge between her policymaker past and corporate present is integration. “Thefuture of energy won’t be shaped by one ideology,” she said. “It will be shapedby integration — by aligning economic growth, energy security, anddecarbonisation.”

Auchincloss agreed,pointing to the importance of “stability and pragmatism” in regulation.“Investment flows to where policy is stable and returns are predictable,” hesaid. “That’s why places like Abu Dhabi continue to attract global capital.”