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Microsoft at ADIPEC 2022: Working towards a sustainable energy future 

The energy industry is at the center of change in a global movement toward a net zero future. The transition toward sustainable, secure, and affordable energy is more important than ever as the world faces the impacts of economic uncertainty, climate change, and geopolitical events. To help accelerate the energy transition, Microsoft is committed to delivering trusted, integrated, data-driven solutions. But there’s more to transformation than technology. We all need to work together to improve sustainability. To drive innovation, we’re continuing to build strong partnerships with the industry, our customers, and partners.

We’re excited that starting on October 31 through November 3, 2022, the Microsoft Energy team will be in Abu Dhabi to participate in ADIPEC 2022. One of the world’s largest energy exhibitions, the event brings together industry leaders and policymakers to shape a secure, affordable, and sustainable energy future. The Microsoft team will be sharing technology innovations to accelerate the energy transition and sustainability, speaking on a range of topics including:

  • Challenges and opportunities in a future of growing demand and lower carbon.
  • Reimagining the future workforce and the connected digital worker.
  • Digital technologies and capabilities and facilitating transformation success.

I am pleased to host the Leadership Roundtable—Digital technologies and capabilities: facilitating transformation successes, where energy leaders and policymakers will discuss the financial opportunities of clean hydrogen and how smart execution can meet sustainability targets.

We will also be highlighting customer successes and showing demos of our newest solution for energy companies, enabling companies to do more with their data in the cloud.

Achieve net zero through carbon capture, utilization, and storage

We also look forward to connecting with customers and partners at the KPMG Global Energy Transformation Conference, in Houston, Texas, November 2, 2022, where Microsoft is a sponsor, hosting a booth, and leading several discussions. Hema Prapoo, Energy Industry Director, Microsoft, will share how companies can achieve their net zero targets through carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), a core business segment to grow into and increasingly viewed as a high-growth infrastructure class, because of the business opportunities it offers. ​Governments globally are increasing funding commitments to both CO2 emitters seeking to apply CCUS and companies building networks to transport and store CO2. In the session, Hema will address:​

  • Challenges facing the industry, from scaling technology deployment and rapidly developing supply chains, to permitting, and ensuring projects are funded and financed in line with targets​.
  • How to identify potential solutions to these challenges, as well as other ways to grow the sector.

Corporations and governments have undergone a rapid transformation in their openness to considering CCUS as a core decarbonization technology over the past 24 months. The introduction of net zero has meant that every sector and industry, irrespective of how difficult they are to abate, now must find a solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. CCUS is seen as a prerequisite to achieving this ambition in virtually every single independent third-party global decarbonization scenario. ​

Reimagine energy through digital transformation

As we explore ground-breaking technologies and strategies at these events, we’ll be looking at opportunities to transform everything from health and safety to grid decarbonization. To meet business and environmental goals, energy companies need actionable information to make operational and strategic decision. The energy industry has some of the biggest untapped data sets, which continue to grow with every new asset that is connected.

To modernize data and drive efficiency, energy organizations look to break down information silos and standardize processes across exploration and production. With our new Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Energy, energy companies can take advantage of an enterprise grade, fully-managed and integrated cloud-based OSDU Data Platform to gain actionable insights, improve operational efficiency, and accelerate time-to-market.

Equinor is already using Azure Data Manager for Energy to target data efficiency and a low-carbon future and gaining efficiencies that help streamline operations and pave the way for increased investments in renewable energy.

Solutions like Azure Data Manager for Energy are key to helping energy organizations modernize aging energy infrastructure, invest in new and cleaner energy technologies, enable a more productive workforce, and develop entirely new business models and growth drivers.

Another customer, Snam, an Italian energy infrastructure operator with an extensive gas pipeline network across Europe, is using Microsoft Azure, AI, and a full stack of Azure Internet of Things (IoT) services to reduce carbon emissions and democratize its data. In addition to improving sustainability, the adoption of Microsoft Cloud technologies is enabling the company to increase reliability and security through enhanced diagnostics and proactive maintenance.

Improving cybersecurity is a top priority for energy companies, who need to safely manage an ever-expanding volume of data and connected devices. As energy organizations move to the cloud, they can also benefit from comprehensive security across all their Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) devices. bp is a great example of how energy companies can use the cloud to meet business goals while strengthening protection and compliance. As bp undertakes a digital overhaul in its transition from an international oil company to an integrated energy firm, it needed a way to track, monitor, and regulate apps across its global organization. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, bp is able to safeguard its digital transformation with automated app governance.

Transition to clean energy

Energy companies continue to evolve into broader organizations and launch entirely new business lines. Initiatives include more renewable energy generation assets like offshore wind farms, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and carbon capture and removal. Many organizations are committing to net-zero carbon by 2050 or sooner. To support its net-zero goal and other green initiatives, bp is also using Microsoft technology to scrutinize its complex global assets and identify opportunities for optimization and carbon reduction. A digital twin of their Claire Ridge facility was built on Microsoft Azure to calculate real-time carbon intensity and energy efficiency. With the ability to handle more than 250 billion data signals each month from its global assets, bp can scale the digital twin across all facilities worldwide.

Operate for the future with strategic alliances

Our strategic alliances with bp and other customers are helping move the needle toward clean energy. bp is shifting its advanced workloads, including its data lake, to the Microsoft Cloud. Chevron uses Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality equipment and Microsoft Teams to connect with colleagues, increase remote collaboration, and improve operational safety and reliability. Spain’s Repsol and Norway’s Equinor also have strategic agreements with Microsoft to leverage cloud technologies to accelerate digital transformation. TotalEnergies and Microsoft are partnering to advance carbon capture while scaling innovation in Azure. We are also scaling innovation through public and private partnerships like the Northern Lights project, together with the Norwegian government, Equinor, Shell, and Total, to standardize and scale carbon capture and storage across Europe.

Join us in Abu Dhabi and Houston

If you are attending ADIPEC 2022 in Abu Dhabi or the KPMG Global Energy Transformation Conference in Houston, we look forward to seeing you at the event. Stop by the Microsoft booth, meet the Microsoft Energy team, our partners, and customers, and connect on how we’re all working together for a secure, affordable, and sustainable future.

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