Efficiency: the center of gravity after ADIPEC 2025
Every year, ADIPEC tells us something about where the energy sector is heading. This year, the message wasn’t subtle. It was a reset.
“Energy is scarce, and we need more energy addition,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber. Not just more ambition, more gas, more infrastructure, more capacity, more resilience. Also echoed by leaders from Qatar, Egypt, and others, another idea came through clearly: no country, no community, can afford to be left behind in access to energy.
For all the talk the industry had in previous years about energy transition technologies, the center of gravity in Abu Dhabi shifted. Operators, ministers, and CEOs put the focus back on the fundamentals: energy security, efficiency, and AI.
And in every technical conversation I had with customers, one thing stood out: efficiency has become the most immediate, scalable path to progress—commercially and environmentally.
Efficiency is now the first requirement, not a nice-to-have
The narrative around efficiency used to be framed as an “optimization step.” Something you do once the big strategies are in place. But that was not the tone at ADIPEC.
With supply tight, demand rising, and infrastructure under strain, efficiency has become the entry ticket to resilience. Operators are asking a very pragmatic question:
How do we get more out of what we already have today?
A 1–2% gain in machine efficiency, fuel use, or uptime is no longer marginal. It is new energy, reduced emissions, profitability, and avoided downtime. It is megawatts available instead of megawatts lost.
Unlike speculative transition ideas, it’s real, measurable, and implementable now.
AI becomes the defining accelerator of efficiency
Efficiency was the common thread across ADIPEC, with AI emerging as the capability that will fundamentally change how that efficiency is achieved. One data point from the ADNOC/Microsoft study made the scale clear: by 2030, half of all additional global megawatt-hours produced will be consumed by AI computing power.
This is no longer a story of the energy sector simply enabling AI. It marks the point where AI begins reshaping how the energy system itself operates. As Lorenzo Simonelli put it: energy for AI, and AI for energy.
For operators, this translates into two realities:
- AI will drive significant new energy demand
- AI will be one of the most powerful levers for operational efficiency
The momentum won’t come from broad AI narratives, it will come from practical, validated applications already proving value in day-to-day operations: optimization, anomaly detection, automated workflows, and trusted remote support.
This is where OEM domain knowledge becomes essential. When AI is paired with physics-based understanding, fleet data, and embedded analytics, it becomes something operators can trust—not in a controlled demo, but in complex, real plants under real constraints.
Collaboration is no longer optional
One theme echoed by Saad Al Kaabi and Karim Badawi was the need for cross-country, cross-industry cooperation.
Energy security is now a shared challenge, not a competitive advantage.
Operators want partners who bring:
- Proven reliability
- Transparent data and KPIs
- Deep domain knowledge
- Scalable digital capabilities
Customers are very clear—they trust AI and digital when the people behind it understand the assets.
That’s our role at Baker Hughes, bringing decades of operational experience to make digital outcomes both credible and measurable.
Transition narratives quieted and efficiency emerged as the practical path forward
One of the notable shifts at ADIPEC was what received less emphasis this year. Discussions around hydrogen, CCUS, and large-scale transition technologies were minimal in the strategic sessions. Not because these areas have lost importance, but because operators are prioritizing actions they can implement immediately, without waiting for new infrastructure, regulatory changes, or long development cycles.
Across conversations, a consistent theme emerged: efficiency is the most practical and immediate form of decarbonization. Improved equipment performance, increased uptime, better fuel utilization, and optimized operations all translate directly into lower emissions.
In other words, the industry is converging on a single, actionable lever that delivers both operational and environmental gains: efficiency.
What this means for operators going forward
ADIPEC confirmed what we’ve been seeing in our work around the world:
- Operators are done with technology for technology’s sake
- They want outcomes backed by data
- They want efficiency first, not as a byproduct
- They want AI they can trust
- They want partners who know the machines down to the physics
And above all, they want proof.
This is why our focus at Baker Hughes remains unchanged:
Deliver measurable gains in efficiency, reliability, and emissions through advanced digital services, grounded in OEM knowledge and proven in critical operations.
Looking forward: the decade of efficiency is officially here
ADIPEC 2025 signaled a clear shift in priorities, a move back to fundamentals and to what delivers measurable impact today. The decade ahead will not be shaped by the most futuristic concepts, but by the technologies and approaches that create value immediately, at scale, and without reliance on ideal regulatory or market conditions.
In this context, efficiency has moved from a technical metric to a strategic imperative. It is becoming the primary engine of operational progress and a practical pathway to lower emissions. It is where the energy transition begins, and increasingly, where the industry is concentrating its investment and attention.
At Baker Hughes, our focus remains on helping operators translate this priority into verifiable outcomes across reliability, performance, and emissions reduction.