PETRONAS, Microsoft, Cegal partner to accelerate upstream digital innovation with artificial intelligence

(WO) – PETRONAS Digital Sdn Bhd, the digital arm of PETRONAS, has entered into a strategic collaboration with Microsoft and Cegal to accelerate digital innovation for the upstream value chain.

The collaboration will see the construction of Microsoft Azure High-Performance Computing (HPC) AI Infrastructure platform to support and scale a wide array of applications that would optimize PETRONAS Upstream’s operational efficiency, including advanced artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, energy transition and decarbonization use cases.

The effort is built upon PETRONAS' existing collaboration with Microsoft and Cegal which advances exploration activities with better cloud agility, automation, and data lifecycle management.

The proposed construction of this Azure HPC platform is also poised to support other partners in Malaysia’s energy sector, including production agreement contractors (PACs), to achieve their business objectives.

Cegal Chief Executive Officer, Dagfinn Ringås, said, “Moving high-performance computing (HPC) workloads to the cloud with a managed service from Cegal has been a game-changer deal for us in Asia and a big vote of confidence from one of the largest and most professional energy companies in the world. It also shows that we are succeeding in our ambition to build a leading global tech company for the energy sector.”

“This collaboration has the potential to unlock new possibilities and drive innovation in the upstream value chain, leveraging on the domain expertise of PETRONAS, advanced capabilities of Azure’s HPC, AI Infrastructure solution and the expertise of Cegal. HPC and AI capabilities can further optimize the delivery of our energy offerings and innovate operations within the wider energy industry,” said PETRONAS Vice President of Group Technology and Commercialization, Aadrin Azly.

“Building upon our existing HPC engagement, this new collaboration will enable key technological advancements—delivering potential for growth and efficiency—both within PETRONAS’ Upstream business unit and for the overall energy sector,” said Microsoft Malaysia Managing Director, K Raman.

This announcement underscores PETRONAS' support towards Microsoft's cloud services from their upcoming datacenter region, to be established in Malaysia to enable greater innovation, enhanced agility, and cost optimization.