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AI has saved Equinor US$330M since 2020
Norway’s state-backed energy group is using artificial intelligence across its offshore and onshore assets to gain operational efficiencies and to accelerate data processing
Norwegian state-backed energy group Equinor estimates it has saved US$330M since 2020, including US$130M in 2025, by using artificial intelligence (AI) on its offshore installations, offices and terminals, by creating operational efficiencies and enhancing data analytics.
“AI is a central part of our operations,” said Equinor executive vice president for technology, digital and innovation Hege Skryseth. “Since 2020, we have realised values of over US$330M with AI in industrial processes, of which US$130M came in 2025. Moving forward, AI will become even more important for solving industrial tasks safely, faster, more profitably and at scale.”
Equinor and its partners use AI to explore for oil and gas resources, plan new projects and reduce energy consumption and emissions from its offshore and onshore operations.
“We use AI to interpret more seismic data, plan and drill more wells, and operate our facilities safely and profitably, while also using the technology to optimise energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions,” said Ms Skryseth. “With AI, we can analyse seismic data 10 times faster, plan wells and field developments in new and better ways, and operate our facilities more efficiently.”
With AI, more seismic survey data can be interpreted, covering more offshore areas and enhancing the overall geological understanding, resulting in new discoveries.
In 2025, Equinor said around 2M km2 of seismic information was interpreted using an AI tool.
It monitors more than 700 rotating machines with 24,000 sensors across all offshore and onshore facilities using AI to predict potential failures and understand maintenance requirements. This application has saved US$120M since 2020 and reduces the risk of sudden shutdowns that can lead to flaring and increased CO2 emissions.
“Industrial processes generate vast amounts of data, and we can use AI to produce knowledge from this data,” said Ms Skryseth. “This has already been transformative and profitable, even though we are still early in the AI revolution.”
Equinor also uses AI to plan offshore well drilling, including their placement over reservoirs, and for field developments. Algorithms generate thousands of alternatives for experts to consider to produce the best proposals for field developments.
Equinor said AI was used in the Johan Sverdrup Phase 3 project in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, and machine learning found a solution that no one had considered, saving the development US$12M in costs.
The Oslo-headquartered organisation aims to use AI to help it maintain production on the Norwegian continental shelf at 2020 levels, of around 1.2M barrels of oil equivalent per day, through to 2035.
“We primarily use traditional machine learning on our operational data,” said Ms Skryseth. "Our employees can use AI tools like copilots, chatbots and agentic AI to solve tasks and work in new ways.”
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