Keynote speech by Ahmad O. Khowaiter at the Middle East Corrosion Conference 2025

Assalumu Alaykum and good morning.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to address you today at the 19^th Middle East Corrosion Conference and the first to be held here in Saudi Arabia.

I want to thank the conference organizers for planning an impactful event, and the previous speakers for sharing their insights.

I too would like to welcome everyone to Dhahran, especially if it is your first visit here. It is an honor to host you all.

Context

We all know that corrosion is one of the most persistent and therefore most expensive challenges we face. 

Worldwide, across all industries, it has been projected that corrosion costs roughly $3 trillion per year, representing about 3% of global GDP.

Studies indicate that close to $1 trillion per year in savings can be realized just by applying AI and other corrosion control technologies.

Behind every dollar lost to corrosion is increased risk. Risk to the safety of our colleagues, risk to the integrity of our environment and risk to the reliability of energy supply which billions of people depend on globally. 

So, the question we must answer over the next few days is not just to what extent do we address the corrosion challenge, but how we move from a reactive approach of the past to a proactive approach in the future.

The AI answer

At the core of the answer, I believe, is data analytics and artificial intelligence. 

AI gives us the power to predict failures before they occur, optimize maintenance schedules and extend the productive life of critical assets.

The technological revolution we are now living through is changing how every industry operates. The advent of AI and big data is taking us into a new world where opportunities are limitless and we are moving at a pace none of us have experienced before.

Three pillars of AI success

Maximizing the potential of AI is critical, for industry specifically, whether that’s for fighting corrosion or any other opportunity, we require three main elements.

First, you need tremendous amounts of real-world data. At Aramco, we use more than 90 years of proprietary data and collect information, continuously, from 10 billion data points a day. 

Second, you need large amounts of computing power. This is the infrastructure which trains and deploys these AI models at scale. 

Third, and perhaps the most important, is something often overlooked in our excitement about technology. It is the talent. Our subject matter experts, who interpret, validate and apply AI insights, who are the most invaluable.

Industrial AI in action

These are the pillars on which we have developed the energy industry’s first industrial Large Language Model. It is trained on decades of exclusive Aramco data and today is serving our business with 40,000 prompts per day.

But, our LLM is not just about scale, it is about solutions. 

It is transforming how we address our industry challenges.

Innovation through in-house development

Imagine an AI system which continuously monitors thousands of assets, detecting the earliest signs of corrosion or material degradation. A system that can predict which pipeline segment, for example, will corrode before it becomes a safety issue. This isn’t science fiction, but science fact.

A great example of such a system is our Hybrid Statistical Corrosion Prediction Model, HySCorr. It was developed by our scientists and engineers and offers operators a scalable, future-ready approach to managing non-inspectable and aging pipeline assets, even across the most complex production environments. 

HySCorr leverages 20 years’ worth of data, using machine learning and advanced flow and corrosion modeling to produce dynamic, predictive and more accurate monitoring of pipeline health, therefore protecting thousands of kilometers of pipelines. 

Another notable innovation is FalconScan, a remotely controlled corrosion inspection drone currently used at many of our upstream facilities. 

It is capable of landing on a pipe and performing UT scans, which is particularly useful with elevated assets, where it reduces the cost of scaffolding while minimizing safety hazards. 

FalconScan reduces losses by increasing the frequency and accuracy of calibration, while minimizing the impact on operations.

Innovation Through Partnership 

In addition to our many in-house developed technologies, open innovation and partnerships are a major enabler of our success in industrial AI and corrosion prediction and prevention. It’s about collaboration and supporting the entrepreneurs and the start-ups who are developing breakthrough solutions, giving them a platform to succeed.

A great example of this is CorrosionRADAR, a UK based company which embeds sensors under insulation and relays real-time data that identifies corrosion risk before any damage is done.

Their technology has already huge value through inspection cost reduction, improved uptime, and optimized turnaround planning.

Another technology that we have invested in is Inductosense, which has deployed their battery-free, ultrasonic sensors at North Ghawar Producing and Uthmaniyah Gas Plants.Those sensors precisely measure corrosion, erosion and wall thickness, reducing manual inspections, improving data delivery, and ultimately, model development.

These are all examples of innovation in action. A small team of experts trying to solve a specific problem with smart technology, supported by strategic investment and real-world validation.

It’s the kind of model we wish to replicate across our business and our industry. Identifying the challenge, supporting the innovators, validating it at scale and then deploying it globally. 

Building an innovation ecosystem in Dhahran

This brings me to a broader vision, beyond Aramco’s operations, to the open innovation ecosystem we are building right here in Dhahran.

This is not just home to Aramco, it’s also home to several academic and industrial pioneers, including the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, one of the region’s premier research and academic institutions. 

The Dhahran Techno Valley located adjacent to KFUPM hosts more than 30 leading global organizations including Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Sinopec, Yokogawa and more. Together it supports thousands of professionals and contributes to hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and patents every year.

We have ambitions to help grow this ecosystem further. The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 commits tens of billions of dollars to advancing the technology sector and we believe Dhahran and the broader region can play a key role in that transformation. 

With a cluster of world-class technical expertise, decades of operational data, access to one of the world’s largest energy companies, strong academic institutions and a government committed to building a knowledge-based economy, I can think of no better place for enterprise and innovation to flourish.

For technology companies, especially those working on industrial AI, digital twins, robotics, advanced materials, and of course, corrosion management, Dhahran offers an opportunity, I believe, unlike anywhere else.

Where else can you test technologies on facilities of such scale? Where else can you take advantage of 90 years’ worth of operational data? Where else can you tap into a talent pool trained at the crossroads of energy and technology?

We are actively seeking to collaborate with innovators who want to grow with us. Companies which succeed here become more than just suppliers, they become partners. They gain access to markets across the Middle East and beyond, benefiting from the Kingdom's strategic location and growing influence in global technology.

Calls to action

So, to kick off the 19^th edition of this conference, I want to ask something of everyone in this room.

To the corrosion professionals, I encourage you to embrace these new technologies and these new tools. AI will not replace your expertise, it will only enhance it. The engineers and scientists who learn to work alongside AI will be the leaders who transform our industry.

To the tech innovators, academics and entrepreneurs, look to the Middle East, look to Dhahran, as a place to develop and deploy your solutions. The opportunities here are vast, the support is real and the potential impact is global.

And to the industry leaders, invest not just in technology, but in innovation ecosystems. Support start-ups, fund research and train talent. The companies that will take our industry forward will not do so alone, they will only succeed by working together.

We believe that with the right technology, the right talent and the right partnerships, we can transform our industry and set new global standards for this new AI age.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to an inspiring and innovative conference.

Thank you.

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