Enabling the Middle East’s energy transition

Tariq Aslam, vice-president and head of the Middle East and Africa region at AspenTech, talks to The Energy Year about how the company helps clients increase production while minimising emissions and its activities in production optimisation, predictive maintenance and digital twin solutions. AspenTech provides software and services for process industries.

What is AspenTech’s position as an enabler of the Middle East’s energy transition?
The Middle East at large, and the UAE specifically, is taking a leadership role in the dual challenge of maximising energy and minimising emissions. With COP28 around the corner, the Middle East and Africa have become key regions driving the global energy agenda where energy efficiency and the energy transition have become critical. This is where AspenTech – through its technology, industrial expertise and applied know-how, becomes an important enabler.
We have more than four decades of experience in the oil and gas sector. Through our solutions, we support leading hydrocarbons companies in the Middle East to increase their production by means of automating their operations, as well as maximising carbon capture and minimising emissions. For instance, for greenfield projects, we are a critical partner for companies seeking to plan and design the facility and systems for projects to be operational with maximum efficiency and minimum energy utilisation. We are leaders in designing, maintaining and running facilities optimally.

What are your main activities in the upstream sector?
The Middle East and Africa have been given added focus in light of the worldwide geopolitical situation. There is increasing pressure on upstream companies to carry out exploration work in the least time possible, operate assets in an exceptional way and ensure that every molecule from the subsurface is extracted.
To this end, we have a geoscience solution which can analyse the surface, determine where the best deposits are and see how to extract the hydrocarbons in the most efficient way. We have an array of technologies and software focused on subsurface science and engineering, such as Aspen Geolog and Aspen Echos, as well as asset performance solutions.
Different companies across the Middle East depend on our solutions to discover hydrocarbons deposits, and then ensure that they are extracted in the most efficient way by structuring the right drilling techniques. In 2022, Emerson acquired 55% of AspenTech, which has placed us in an even greater position in the upstream sector. Given the ambitions of NOCs in the GCC region, we are already experiencing very aggressive growth in E&P, being true market leaders in this area. We are uniquely positioned in other segments of the oil and gas value chain, linking our upstream capabilities with our strengths midstream and downstream.

How are you using predictive maintenance and digital twin solutions to prevent failures?
Industry figures indicate that around 80% of plant shutdowns in the oil and gas industry are unplanned. We provide two key technologies that tackle this recurrent problem: predictive maintenance and digital twins. Traditionally, predictive maintenance has focused on avoiding unplanned shutdowns caused by system failures. However, the causes of shutdowns can go beyond system failures and be triggered by temperature or pressure changes around the process. A system could be brand new with no apparent reasons for it to break down. Hence, we’ve been using AI to support us in this area and better understand the cause of unexpected failures. We help the client identify these problems, not only on the system side, but also on the process side.
Likewise, digital twin technology is also essential. A crucial application of this technology is predicting what will happen – for example, a given pump failure. However, it doesn’t tell you what impact this failure will have on your production flows or what process elements, such as temperature, flow rate, or any other parameters need to be changed. Thus, we are linking digital twin and predictive maintenance technology we are able to provide the client a holistic solution.

In what ways are your solutions contributing to the reduction of clients’ carbon footprints?
Within the broad area of decarbonisation, energy utilisation is a segment we are focusing on. Energy is the largest contributor to carbon emissions and companies need solutions to reduce their energy consumption, and with that reduce their emissions. We offer solutions that help to design a plant to be more efficient from an energy utilisation perspective. Several measures can be implemented from the inception of a facility to make it more sustainable and decrease its energy consumption. For example, our engineering and simulation solutions are used to put together plant designs that are optimal from the running and operation point of view, in addition emitting less CO2.
Parallel to this, we are working with Saudi Aramco to look for additional capabilities that aim to not only reduce CO2 emissions but also make use of the CO2. Once captured, how will you use it – flare it, burn it, convert it, reinject it to drive more oil and gas production? We are looking at innovative solutions in this regard to not only capturing the carbon but putting it to further use. Hydrogen is also an area we want to embrace given the traction it’s having. We are applying our simulation capabilities in this area – that is, designing and simulating a given plant, running different scenarios and then validating those designs against the reliability matrix. That is what we provide in the context of hydrogen.

Tell us more about the benefits AspenTech DataWorks brings to its clients.
The oil and gas industry, like many other industries, is overwhelmed by data. Every piece of rotating or static equipment generates terabytes of data. The key is, however, how to utilise that data optimally, putting the data in its right context. Our recent acquisition of Inmation Software and its combination with the Aspen AIoT Hub provides an industry-leading data management platform – AspenTech DataWorks. Today AspenTech DataWorks is a global leader in industrial data management from the shop floor to the boardroom. Its mission is to accelerate data-driven value creation in asset-intensive industries through robust data software offerings.
Around 30-40% of our challenge is to recognise the impact analysis and visualisations, showcasing the possible impact. Approximately 20-25% of project time is spent on just detecting failures and problems. With AspenTech DataWorks we believe we will help our customers identify the issues that are contributing positively or adversely towards the operational performance of businesses.

How do you contribute to boosting ADNOC’s performance and how important is integration across the supply chain?
We are working across ADNOC’s entire value chain. We are important partners in upstream, as they depend on our solutions to maximise oil and gas extraction. Our technologies and software are also critical in the midstream space, taking the molecule from the wellhead to the refinery’s gate. Lastly, downstream is our speciality, as we are involved in plants and facilities of different natures – oil, gas and chemicals.
Companies like ADNOC are always looking to the future, so they keep us on our toes in terms of innovation. We innovate and co-innovate, catering the latest solutions to regional NOCs such as ADNOC and Aramco. So, what is next for us? Customers are now looking into integration across the supply chain, from upstream to downstream.
For example, when we provide an engineering system, we keep in mind that we will be the ones operating the system. Once operating it, we need to be able to link its engine, design and operations together, and then maintain it. Predictive maintenance tools, digital twins and operational optimisation all work in isolation. Yet, when they are integrated, they work in harmony, giving the best results.

How important is the MENA region for AspenTech?
Within the MENA region, we have our Middle East cluster. There, the majority of our business comes from Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE. The Gulf region accounts for 60% of our market activities while the rest of the Middle East is 40%. Local content is also very important, so we work closely with local universities. such as Khalifa University. We also run several training courses in partnership with energy companies to enhance the skillsets of individuals. Additionally, we are setting up stronger entities in the region, such as in the UAE, where we are hiring locals and expanding our in-country footprint.
For the next three to five years, we have big ambitions to achieve double-digit growth. We will be doing that by continuously working in collaboration with our partners and customers. In 2022 for instance, we strengthened our collaboration with Aramco to build local solutions, and we are now commercialising them.

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