Middle East energy groups lift autonomy spending as AI and cyber defences advance

Three quarters of energy companies in the Middle East raised their spending on autonomous technologies over the past 12 months, and the companies that have already deployed them report gains that stretch well past efficiency. The figure, from research by Schneider Electric, stands at 76 percent. Only 2 percent of respondents cut their budgets over the same period.

Autonomous operations, as the company defines them, merge data, artificial intelligence and connected control systems so a facility can read its own conditions, choose a response and carry it out. Of the leaders surveyed, 72 percent said such systems mattered to uninterrupted production and to operational resilience.

The results were released ahead of ADIPEC 2026, which runs in Abu Dhabi from November 2 to 5.

Productivity leads the list of returns

Among companies already running autonomous technologies, 42 percent named higher productivity as a benefit. Others reported better workforce safety, environmental outcomes, the ability to keep producing through disruption, and more dependable assets.

Asked which technologies did most to push autonomy forward in the past year, respondents split evenly. Some 47 percent pointed to artificial intelligence and machine learning; another 47 percent pointed to cybersecurity and safety systems. More than a third named smart grids and distribution automation, digital twins, and open software-defined automation.

Cyber risk tops the list of obstacles

Cyber risk is the most cited barrier to expansion, named by 35 percent. Skills shortages, competing investment priorities and high upfront costs each drew more than 25 percent.

"Energy security is rapidly becoming economic security," said Devan Pillay, President of Heavy Industries at Schneider Electric. "Organizations do not become resilient simply because they are autonomous. They become resilient when intelligence is connected to execution."

Pillay added that operators gain speed when energy, operations and intelligence are treated as one system. "When energy, operations and intelligence work as a single system, operators are able to see, decide and act faster," he said. "The Middle East has built that capability as long-term strategy. It gives every other energy region a clear model to follow."

The regional survey builds on the company's Global Autonomous Maturity Report, which questioned 400 senior energy and chemicals executives across 12 countries in Asia, North America, Europe and the GCC. That work found the GCC and Asia ahead on current maturity. Globally, the industry is targeting substantially higher levels of autonomous operation by 2030.

Spending choices in the region look strategic rather than reactive. Only 3 percent said a recent operational disruption was the main reason for their current budget; long-term modernization and competitiveness was the primary driver for 24 percent, with sustainability targets and long-run cost efficiency also shaping the case. Every organization already using some autonomy said it would put capital behind it again in the next 12 months.

Regulation helps. Some 72 percent said clear market rules and regulations had made it easier to roll autonomy out faster.

"Operators across the region are treating autonomy as a long-term investment," said Gaurav Sharma, an independent energy market analyst. "Very few point to recent disruption as the reason they are spending."

Sharma said predictability carries unusual weight in a sector that commits to assets over decades. "Energy leaders also say clear rules are helping them deploy faster," he said. "For an industry that plans assets over decades, that predictability matters."

New builds take the larger share

Over the next 12 months, 48 percent said most of their autonomous technology investment would go to new greenfield projects. About 23 percent expected to concentrate on upgrading existing brownfield sites, and more than 25 percent planned to split spending roughly evenly between the two.

Workforce goals sit alongside the capital plans. Some 84 percent said the investment was important to national workforce-development aims, and close to a third said autonomy had freed employees to spend time on higher-value work.

Schneider Electric argues that trusted data, AI-driven intelligence and automated execution can lift safety, reliability, asset performance and decision-making at both new and existing facilities.

"Our customers across the region are investing with confidence," said Walid Sheta, Middle East and Africa President at Schneider Electric. "The question they ask us is how fast they can scale. Our role is to be the energy technology partner that helps them turn intelligence into action, from greenfield megaprojects to modernizing critical assets."

One live example is an AI-driven autonomous operations pilot at ADNOC's Ruwais Refinery, announced with Schneider Electric last year, which has moved past proof-of-concept. The pilot is built to bring the refinery back to on-spec production up to 15 percent faster after a restart. It is also designed to trim energy consumption, fuel use, carbon dioxide emissions and hydrogen demand by up to 5 percent each.

At ADIPEC 2026 the company is running an "Intelligence into Action" demonstration covering autonomous technologies across oil and gas operations. It includes integrated power and process management built on EcoStruxure Power & Process with the ETAP digital twin, software-defined automation through Foxboro, and industrial intelligence from AVEVA.

The scale of the numbers matters less than their direction. A region that built its energy system around long asset lives is now buying software that shortens the gap between spotting a problem and acting on it — while cyber risk, rather than cost, sits at the top of its list of obstacles. That ordering suggests the next phase of spending will be judged on whether intelligence reaches the plant floor, and whether operators trust it once it arrives.