PETRONAS Digital inks MOU with Microsoft and Cegal to boost AI and computing offerings

PETRONAS Digital, 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 was formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by PETRONAS' digital chief executive officer, Phuah Aik Chong, Microsoft Malaysia’s managing director K Raman, and Cegal’s CEO, Dagfinn Ringas. Also present at the signing was PETRONAS’ VP of group technology and commercialisation, Aadrin Azly. 

The collaboration will see the construction of Microsoft Azure’s computing and AI infrastructure platform to support and scale a wide array of applications that will optimise PETRONAS' operational efficiency. This includes advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) use, machine learning, energy transition and decarbonisation use cases.

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“This collaboration has the potential to unlock new possibilities and drive innovation in the upstream value chain. HPC and AI capabilities can further optimise the delivery of our energy offerings and innovate operations within the wider energy industry,” said Azly.

The effort was 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.

"As a technology partner to PETRONAS, we are committed to help accelerate their innovation journey with Microsoft’s artificial intelligence and Microsoft Azure High Performance Computing solutions,” Raman said.

He also explained that the new collaboration will enable key technological advancements to deliver the potential for growth and efficiency both within PETRONAS’ Upstream business unit and for the overall energy sector.

Ringas added: “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 announcement underscores PETRONAS' support towards Microsoft's cloud services from their upcoming data centre region which is to be established in Malaysia to enable greater innovation, enhanced agility, and cost optimisation.

Alongside Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is slated to launch its infrastructure region in Malaysia. According to the company, it includes a plan to invest approximately RM25.5 billion in Malaysia by 2037.

Petronas is working with AWS to manoeuvre its launch. “The new AWS Region reflects our deep and long-term commitment to customers and organisations in Malaysia, as well as our commitment to serving sizeable and fast-growing demand for cloud services across Southeast Asia. We are proud to support Malaysia’s digital transformation with the highest levels of security and reliability available on AWS cloud infrastructure,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of infrastructure services at AWS.

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