AI, sustainability, and structural changes: what’s coming for the oil and gas industry

Ed Pearcey

Tue, Apr 15, 2025, 2:43 AM 6 min read

As the global oil and gas (O&G) industry moves well into 2025, the need to increase efficiency, develop and adopt new technology and enhance exploration, production and refining capabilities is becoming ever more important.

With the sector undergoing rapid technological advancements, it will need to address critical challenges in sustainability, operational efficiency and resource optimisation, as the global demand for hydrocarbons show no signs of abating.

In fact, the growing global need for energy and petrochemicals, coupled with ongoing energy security concerns, could prompt rising demand for oil into 2030, despite the rapid deployment of green energy, according to a GlobalData response to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Oil 2024 report.

The IEA found that oil markets face challenges as medium-term structural shifts are expected to cause excess supply in five years’ time, with green and energy-saving technologies helping to gradually slow the pace of oil demand growth.

Offshore Technology looks at some of the most important coming trends in O&G development and assesses how the industry will change over the next twelve months – and what technologies are likely to come to the fore.

“The oil and gas industry has traditionally been slow to adopt new technologies due to the capital-intensive nature of its projects, complex designs, remote locations and long timelines,” says Ravindra Puranik, an oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, Offshore Technology’s parent company.

However, increasing pressures to improve sustainability and efficiency are driving change in key areas, he adds, and while “these changes may seem gradual on an annual basis, the foundational shifts can take years.”

“The industry is making significant progress in areas such as digitalisation, automation, carbon capture and alternative energy sources, pushing towards a cleaner energy future,” he says, arguing that the industry is likely to see “continued technological advancements with notable improvements.”

Digitalisation is expected to gain further momentum in the industry, says Puranik, with technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) playing pivotal roles.

“AI in particular is transforming oil and gas operations through predictive analytics, reservoir management, automation and supply chain optimisation,” he adds.

A GlobalData thematic report from late 2024, 'Digitalization in Oil and Gas,' stated that in recent years the oil and gas industry has progressed from using digital technologies for select use cases to making their entire processes digital.