Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) has introduced blockchain technology for the first time to track quantities and financial values of bilateral transactions carried out between the state giant’s multiple operating companies such as oil producing, refining and gas processing units on a single platform.
The pilot project, implemented in partnership with IBM, is part of a broader push to apply technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain to enhance operational efficiency, boost profitability and unlock greater value from Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas resources.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger that can be used to produce permanent and verifiable transactions between parties. The technology is becoming increasingly popular in several industries because it offers greater transparency, enhanced security, improved traceability, more efficient and speedier transactions, and reduced costs.
Adnoc’s blockchain-based system integrates the company’s oil and gas production across the full value chain, enabling the presentation of data in real time at a group-wide level, while also giving access to information from individual assets, Adnoc says. It also provides more reliable production data by increasing transparency in transactions.
The system provides "a secure platform for the tracking, validating and execution of transactions at every stage, from production well to the end-customer," Adnoc says. "For example, as crude oil makes its way from the production well to the refinery or the export terminal, all quantities are accounted for on a daily basis along with the associated monetary values."
Under CEO Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc has embarked on a strategic overhaul aimed at boosting growth, efficiency and access to growth markets as part of a broader strategy to transform the once conservatively managed state firm into a dynamic global energy player.
Adnoc’s digital revolution is managed from its so-called Panorama Command Center on the 37th floor of its headquarters in Abu Dhabi. There, Adnoc digital unit manager Abdul Nasser Al Mughairbi and his team have a full visual of the state oil giant’s operations, including the blockchain-based system.
Watching over a 50-meter floor-to-ceiling LED screen, which takes up an entire floor in the Adnoc tower, Panorama enables the real-time monitoring and analysis of the group’s various operations.
