AI market hits $2.6 billion by 2022–Yemi-Esan

The global market for Artificial Intelligence, AI- computational tools that substitute for human intelligence in problem solving, is expected to hit about $2.6 billion by year 2022.

This was disclosed by Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and guest speaker at the 2019 Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition, NAICE, organized by the Nigeria Council of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

The conference with a theme “Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Mobile Technology; Changing the Future of the Energy Industry,” held at Eko Hotel with hundreds of participants from different continents.

According to Esan, the time is ripe for the full deployment of AI in the operational modes of the petroleum industry.

 “The Artificial Intelligence market is expected to hit $2.85 billion by 2022, growing by 12.6 % through data technology. It has permeated into several sectors with positive output but sadly, not much is being felt in oil and gas industry,” she stated, adding that it “helps to make safer and accurate decisions.”

Describing the 2019 theme as “apt” given the imperative of the new technology to meet digital economy, Esan disclosed that the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Ministry of Petroleum is not losing sight of the objectives of AI, saying that the administration is already committed to changing the “oil future” through the instrumentality of AI’s key role in reservoir management and drilling.

“Government is pushing in that direction. This pursuit is backed by transparent policy. We are working with Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC  on data for authenticity including the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.”

She however, lamented the apparent lack of accurate data in the petroleum industry network, saying “data has intrinsic value but it has to be discovered. How true and reliable is our data? SPE should proffer the answer.”

To bridge the gap, Esan submitted that  training and other forms of capacity building are key and must therefore, be given a priority even as she admonished players in the sector to partner with the federal government in addressing the dwindling gains in the oil and gas business.