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How Aramco learned to keep pumping oil under fire. Reuters/London Published on October 15, 2026 | 07:55 PM President and CEO of Aramco, Amin Nasser speaks at the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh on Monday. When attack drones struck Saudi Aramco's biggest oil pipeline last month, satellite images showed one of its pumping stations burnt to ashes. By the next day, scores of bulldozers were already building a new pipeline. Within days pumping resumed. The speed of the recovery illustrates how the world's biggest oil producer has transformed its ability to operate under attack after years of assaults on energy infrastructure across the region. "Today, our teams can handle multiple incidents simultaneously, and we continue to build this capability," Saudi state oil firm Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser told Reuters in an interview last week. Nasser said Aramco has built specialised rapid-response teams, expanded emergency stockpiles for repairs and deployed drones to assess damage even while incidents are still unfolding. Lessons on how to operate under fire came after drones and missiles hit Aramco's major oil processing facility in Abqaiq in 2019, temporarily knocking out half of Aramco's production. "After Abqaiq in 2019, we came up with the idea of rapid response teams, or what we call zero-hour responders," Nasser said. The company, long-viewed as one of the most technically advanced oil producers, then began to prepare for the possibility of multiple attacks on its facilities at the same time, Nasser said. Those capabilities have been repeatedly tested since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February this year and Iran and its proxies retaliated with strikes that hit Middle Eastern infrastructure. The firm's crisis-management capabilities were tested again on Tuesday when a Houthi attack struck the company's headquarters complex, causing extensive damage. Saudi daily oil output dropped below 7mn barrels for most of the first six months of the war, down from over 10mn barrels before the war, according to data from the International Energy Agency. Like other Gulf producers, Saudi Arabia's oil exports have been constrained by attacks on tankers and a shortage of ships restricting crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Yet Aramco has managed to repair damaged facilities and restore operations quickly thanks to specialised response teams, years of contingency planning, drone technology and abundant spare parts. Technology has allowed Aramco to compress the time between an attack and the start of repairs, Nasser said. The company's response to incidents was now more than six times faster than the industry average, he added, meaning it often takes just days to restart a facility even after significant damage. Normally, oil firms first contain an incident and then assess the damage, but Aramco begins assessment with drones while an incident is still unfolding, Nasser said. "Inspection drones provide an exceptional level of visibility and detail," Nasser said. "By the time the situation is under control, we are ready to get to work." Response teams can quickly send repair materials to a site before work begins, Nasser said. Some 90% of materials needed for repairs are produced locally or held in a local warehouse as Aramco has spent years building up supply chains and inventories. The ability to maintain production despite repeated attacks has become an important selling point with Aramco's customers, Nasser said. "They see that Aramco is able to deliver under different scenarios." While Saudi oil production recovered to about 8mn barrels a day in September, export routes remain vulnerable to disruptions beyond Aramco's control. The company is studying possible alternative routes to the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb and Suez, Nasser said, without elaborating. "Details will be disclosed if and when a final decision is made," he said. Reuters/London Last Edited October 15, 2026 | 07:57 PM

OPEC: Saudi Arabia raised its oil production by more than two million barrels per day in September A sharp Saudi jump in production is leading the OPEC+ alliance to increase its supply despite continued shipping disruption through the Strait of Hormuz, while the organization's figures reveal two opposing paths between its largest producer and its largest ally outside it. People walk past an oil barrel bearing the logo of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Baku, Azerbaijan - Reuters Saudi Arabia raised its oil production during September by more than 2 million barrels per day compared with August, according to the monthly report issued by OPEC, which stated that Riyadh had reported this data to the organization. According to the report, the Kingdom's average daily oil production after the increase reached 8.372 million barrels. OPEC+ alliance raises its production The average production of the OPEC+ alliance, which includes OPEC and Russia, reached about 39.07 million barrels per day during September, an increase of about 900,000 barrels per day from August, according to the report, which relies on secondary sources. This increase was mainly driven by the Saudi jump, despite continued disruption of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. That coincided with Saudi Aramco accelerating oil loading from Gulf export ports during September, after an attack targeting the East-West Pipeline disrupted its shipments through the Red Sea. Why does this rise matter? This announcement comes at a sensitive time for global markets, as the data reveal signs of recovery in oil supplies from the central Gulf region, although shipments remain below their levels before the outbreak of war at the end of February 2026. The continuation of high Saudi production despite shipping disruptions carries a reassuring message to markets about Riyadh's ability to compensate for any interruptions through alternative export routes. For consumers and companies around the world, this rising production is directly linked to attempts to compensate for oil inventories that were depleted this year due to the Middle East and Ukraine wars, which may reflect on price stability in the medium term. On the other hand, Russian oil production fell by 38,000 barrels per day last month, according to the OPEC report, amid continued Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries. OPEC raises demand forecasts for 2027 OPEC lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth for 2026 for the sixth consecutive month, while raising its forecast for 2027, based on the world's need to rebuild inventories depleted by the Iranian war. The organization expects global demand to rise next year by 2.55 million barrels per day to average 108.3 million barrels per day, compared with expected growth of only 180,000 barrels per day in 2026. OPEC said: "This assumes that oil demand will actually decline in 2026 as currently expected, and that it will be further supported next year by the need to replenish oil inventories." Five key facts 1. Saudi Arabia raised its oil production by more than 2 million barrels per day in September, bringing it to 8.372 million barrels per day. 2. Total OPEC+ production reached 39.07 million barrels per day in September, up 900,000 barrels per day from August. 3. Russia's production fell by 38,000 barrels per day in September amid Ukrainian strikes on its energy infrastructure. 4. OPEC lowered its demand growth forecast for 2026 for the sixth consecutive month, to only 180,000 barrels per day. 5. OPEC raised its demand growth forecast for 2027 to 2.55 million barrels per day, bringing the global average to 108.3 million barrels per day.

Aramco Digital bets on agentic AI to reclaim billions in heavy industry. Aramco Digital and OrbitronAI have partnered to develop agentic AI tools that target lost value in capital projects, supply chains and operations across heavy industry. The collaboration combines Saudi operational scale with specialized agent technology, aiming to create commercial products starting in the Kingdom. Early deployments will test real financial impact before scaling globally. Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Saudi Arabia's energy giant is moving fast to turn decades of operational data into commercial software. On a hot September day at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh, Aramco Digital signed a deal with OrbitronAI. The two plan to create and sell AI agents that attack inefficiency in capital projects, supply chains and daily plant operations. Neither side disclosed financial terms. Yet the ambition stands out. They speak of targeting multibillion-dollar value pools across oil and gas, power, mining, transport and manufacturing. Success in one customer site could quickly become a packaged product sold first inside the Kingdom, then abroad. Aramco has built serious momentum. Last year its technology initiatives delivered more than $5 billion in realized value, with AI responsible for roughly half that amount according to Semafor. The company identified hundreds of use cases. Many now run at scale. This new partnership aims to productize that experience. OrbitronAI brings a platform called NovaOS. It deploys agents that read documents, query enterprise systems, reason over options and execute routine tasks. Human reviewers retain final say on money and critical approvals. The architecture pairs probabilistic reasoning with deterministic guardrails. Audit trails remain intact. Such features matter in industries where errors carry heavy costs. From pilots to products The partners will not rush to market with generic tools. They intend to start with specific customer problems inside Saudi operations. Teams will embed agents into real workflows, measure financial impact, refine the systems and only then turn proven applications into repeatable offerings. That pragmatic sequence reflects hard-won lessons from industrial deployments where flashy demos often fail to survive contact with legacy infrastructure. "Through our partnership with OrbitronAI, we intend to convert that industrial advantage into scalable AI products for Aramco, our affiliates and the wider industrial market," said Ashraf Tahini, chief executive of Aramco Digital, in the announcement covered by The Next Web. Saulius Adomaitis, co-founder and chief executive of OrbitronAI, echoed the focus on repeatability. "Together with Aramco Digital, we are building a repeatable model for Industrial Value Recovery: take a high-value industrial process, embed industrial-grade agents into the workflow, recover the value and turn what works into a product that can scale across the industry," he told i40Today. But. Industrial buyers remain skeptical. Handing complex decisions to software raises questions of accountability, data privacy and integration risk. OrbitronAI addresses some of those concerns by design. Its agents operate within existing systems rather than replace them. Governance layers enforce policy before any action proceeds. Still, trust will be earned one deployment at a time. The timing fits larger Saudi ambitions. Vision 2030 pushes for economic diversification and technology leadership. Aramco Digital operates iCONNA, a national industrial connectivity platform built on a dedicated 450 MHz spectrum. It combines private networks, edge computing, IoT devices and now an expanding AI software marketplace. The OrbitronAI tie-up slots neatly into that stack. Aramco has pursued multiple alliances. In February it signed an MoU with Microsoft to explore industrial AI on Azure, develop talent programs and consider a global marketplace for energy-sector solutions. Aramco's own release quoted Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith on moving AI from pilots into core operations with strong governance. Similar language appears in the OrbitronAI agreement. Consistency signals a deliberate strategy. Earlier this year Aramco also expanded ties with IBM on agentic AI, automation and materials science. French partners joined for drilling equipment and digital twin work valued potentially at billions. And in September Aramco Digital linked with Avathon to push physical AI and autonomous operations. The OrbitronAI deal adds a focused agentic layer aimed squarely at value leakage in complex processes. Fragmented data sits at the heart of the problem. Capital projects generate mountains of documents, change orders, supplier records and inspection reports. Delays in reconciliation can add millions to costs and push back revenue. Supply chains suffer from poor visibility and slow coordination. Daily operations lose efficiency when workers hunt for information across siloed systems. Agents that synthesize this information and trigger actions offer a different path. Analysts at Middle East AI News highlighted the multibillion-dollar opportunity in capital productivity, supply chain performance and operational execution. They noted that industrial customers hesitate to cede control. The partnership's emphasis on human oversight and auditability attempts to ease those worries. OrbitronAI itself remains relatively small. More than 50 employees work from five offices. The company holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certifications. Its leadership carries relevant scars: co-founder Luvy Singh ran supply chain at Shell and served as an EY partner. The technical team draws from engineering, fintech and industrial backgrounds. That blend of domain knowledge and software expertise explains why Aramco Digital chose them over larger vendors. Success will hinge on execution speed. Aramco's scale provides real test beds. Its market reach inside the Kingdom and growing international partnerships offer distribution muscle. Yet competition intensifies. Microsoft, IBM, service providers and other startups chase the same industrial AI dollars. Differentiation will come from proven financial returns, not technology alone. So the model matters. Identify a painful, measurable process. Deploy agents that deliver clear savings or faster decisions. Package the solution. Sell it again. Repeat. If that flywheel spins, Aramco Digital could move from internal efficiency tool to global industrial AI supplier. The OrbitronAI partnership represents an early, concrete step down that road. Industry watchers will track initial deployments closely. Early wins in Saudi facilities could validate the approach. Failures would reinforce old doubts about AI in heavy industry. Either way, the collaboration signals growing confidence that agentic systems can move beyond chatbots and into the physical world of pipes, rigs, factories and supply yards. And that shift carries implications far beyond one Gulf partnership. Subscribe for Updates The AITrends Email Newsletter keeps you informed on the latest developments in artificial intelligence. Perfect for business leaders, tech professionals, and AI enthusiasts looking to stay ahead of the curve.