The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) hosted the 3rd GECF Workshop under the theme “Artificial Intelligence in the Oil and Gas Industry” held in a hybrid format. The event was attended by representatives from GECF Member Countries alongside esteemed partner organizations.
Chaired by HE Eng. Mohamed Hamel, Secretary General of the GECF, the workshop welcomed distinguished guests of honour HE Maksat Babayev, State Minister of Turkmenistan and Chairman of the State Concern “Turkmengas”, HE Myratgeldi Seyitmammedov, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Qatar and Mr Merettagan Ylyasov, First Secretary – Consul at the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Qatar to participate in the workshop.
In his welcoming remarks, His Excellency Hamel expressed his heartfelt appreciation to His Excellency Maksat Babayev, Minister of State of Turkmenistan, for honouring the GECF with his distinguished visit and for participating in the AI Workshop. He underscored Turkmenistan’s immense strategic importance, noting that the country holds the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world and is home to the Galkynysh field, the second-largest gas field globally.
The Secretary General emphasized that the third edition of the workshop places a renewed focus on a key priority for many Member Countries and their national companies: scaling AI solutions across upstream operations to drive greater efficiency, innovation, and sustainability. He noted that the ongoing transformation driven by artificial intelligence is increasingly evident in the oil and gas sector, where AI is already producing tangible results across the entire value chain, from exploration and production to transportation and trading.
His Excellency Maksat Babayev in his welcome remarks expressed that Turkmenistan is actively exploring the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to modernize its gas sector. He noted that the implementation of AI technologies, particularly in automation systems and forecast analytics, opens new opportunities to increase extraction efficiency, reduce operational costs, and engage hard-to-recover gas reserves. His Excellency added that although current efforts mainly focus on production, AI can also benefit gas transportation and processing. In the future, Turkmenistan may introduce predictive maintenance systems on its main gas pipelines and compressor stations to prevent accidents and gas leaks.
Distinguished speakers of the workshop included Prof. Merouane Debbah (Khalifa University), Mr Mansour Belhadj (Microsoft), Ms Sarah Karthigan (Weatherford), Mr Karl Street (GCea), Ms Maria Guadalupe Castaño (Tachyus), and Mr Tevin Achong (Shell T&T), who delved into the theme of “AI Practical Applications: Upstream Focus,” highlighting AI integration in upstream operations. Additional presentations were made by members of academia Dr Mysara Eissa Mohyaldinn (Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS), Dr Zeeshan Tariq (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) and Dr Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Fakih (Dr Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Fakih), who explored Emerging AI Research in Upstream.
The GECF Workshop on Artificial Intelligence underscored the transformative potential of AI technologies across the oil and gas value chain. From enhancing exploration and production efficiency to optimising supply chains and enabling predictive maintenance, AI presents a wealth of opportunities for the industry.
The meeting concluded with closing remarks by Eng. Hichem Kimouche, who extended his sincere thanks to the distinguished speakers for generously sharing their expertise, to the workshop participants for their active engagement, and to the organizing team for their dedication in bringing the event to fruition.