President’s Column: Energizing Tomorrow: SPE and AI

This month’s column tackles an elephant in the room—or more accurately, a herd of elephants: artificial intelligence (AI) and SPE’s role in it. With the impact that AI is having on everything in today’s world, it is no surprise that it is also affecting SPE, its members, and how we are doing business now and in the future. And in the case of SPE and our members, these impacts are not just how we use AI, but also how we will be involved in supplying the electricity that is necessary to power the ever-increasing demand for this technology. Many of you have probably seen or heard some of the numbers. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts, in its base-case scenario, that global electricity demand from data centers will grow from 460 TWh in 2024 to over 1,000 TWh in 2030, and possibly as much as 1,300 TWh in 2035. A large portion of the supply for this increasing demand is expected to be natural gas and enhanced geothermal energy—areas of strong SPE technical content focus. There is no doubt that SPE and its members will be involved in the sustainable generation of electricity needed for AI development. Not only will we help to supply these energy needs, but as I speak with members and see presentations at various conferences and workshops, it is increasingly obvious just how much AI is changing the way our industry works. And I’m not just talking about ChatGPT or Copilot writing emails for us, but very direct applications in all aspects of our business. Some interesting examples I’ve personally seen in the past few months include: - Use of autonomous drones to quickly identify wellhead spills and production issues, allowing for targeted response by field personnel (Brunini and Federico 2025). - Use of AI to improve and accelerate the reviewing of permits, allowing personnel that would normally be performing those functions to be in the field and more efficiently performing safely and regulatory inspections (Amir Gerges, ADNOC, 2026 IPTC Keynote). - Monitoring of driver fatigue to reduce distractions and improve driver safety (ADNOC). Obviously, this is a VERY short list given that AI is used daily by tens of thousands in our industry, but it possibly shows some of the breadth with which it is being applied. AI is not just about processing the terabytes of data that come with seismic acquisition and other data-heavy applications, but also about human interaction and improving the way we do business in all areas.