RESULTS AND SETBACKS / REVIEWED 26 OCTOBER 2026

What actually changed?

17 concrete operating changes, with the population, period and original source beside each result. These measures are different; they are not a returns ranking. Stopped use cases, historical trials and technical tests are separately labeled. Two non-AI chemical-treatment cases show other ways to tackle a similar problem.

Some publication and operating dates are unknown. Performance remains operator- or supplier-reported. No case here establishes independently validated, complete net ROI.

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Production / AI and automation

Reported improvement

SLB / unnamed Permian operator

Fewer wells received excess chemicals

Each square = 1% of wells · performance over 20 months

Share of wells overtreated

$4.4m SLB-reported net savings
First nine months · net-cost calculation undisclosed

Where
Nearly 1,400 producing Permian wells
When
20 months; exact dates unknown
What changed
Sensors · ML detection · team review · remote adjustments
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SLB-reported $4.4m net savings covers the first nine months. Net-cost perimeter unknown; no complete ROI. Not an 82% reduction in chemical volume or total cost.

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Drilling / AI and automation

Reported improvement

Perenco

Perenco reports faster drilling across three wells

19% higher drilling speed

Where
Offshore Republic of the Congo; individual assets unnamed.
When
2025 · three-well campaign
What changed
DrillOps and Neuro automated drilling and directional work; SLB describes an automatic safe-state response to a pack-off event. General override and approval rules are not supplied.
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Raw drilling-speed baseline, matched offset population, complete costs and AI-only contribution unknown.

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Finance / AI and automation

Reported improvement

Wafi Energy Pakistan

Invoice handling fell from about five minutes to under one

~5 min to <1 min in automated scenarios

Where
Automated invoice scenarios at Wafi Energy Pakistan; their share of all invoices is unknown.
When
Calendar dates unknown
What changed
AI document capture, rules and SAP workflows handle routine invoices; finance staff handle exceptions. Autonomous payment approval is not established.
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Invoice volume, automated-scenario share, precise measurement window and full costs unknown. This is the Pakistan Shell-brand licensee, not Shell-wide adoption.

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Production / Non-AI comparison

Reported improvement

Apollo Resources / unnamed SENM operator

A chemical-treatment redesign cut consumption without identified AI

65% less chemical consumption

Where
Unnamed facility, southeastern New Mexico.
When
30-day observation · dates unknown
What changed
A flow-meter-linked controller, new chemistry and a relocated injection point changed treatment. Key operator personnel received online write access.
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Population, throughput, cost calculation, installation costs and longer-term durability unknown. New chemistry and equipment prevent attributing the result to software alone.

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Production / Non-AI comparison

Reported improvement

Weatherford / unnamed trial operators

Targeted chemical placement is another route to less waste

65% less chemical use per well

Where
Unnamed field trials; geography unspecified.
When
2025 paper · trial dates unknown
What changed
Simulation-guided placement, a capillary string and an injection valve deliver chemicals to the treatment point. No AI is identified.
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Operator, geography, well population, raw baseline, cost perimeter and installation costs unknown. This does not establish all-in ROI or scaled deployment.

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Production / AI and automation

Reported improvement

Burk Royalty

Lower electricity expense on an existing lease

Electricity expense per well-month

Where
Small mature lease; not Burk’s entire fleet
When
Eight months · 2026 paper; exact publication day unknown
What changed
Sensors, exception-based field work and control changes.
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Author-reported; combined changes, electricity prices and full-cost reconciliation matter. Not an AI-only or fleet-wide return.

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Drilling / AI and automation

Reported improvement

Azule Energy

Less time spent planning a well

Planning time

Where
Supplier-described planning workflow; separate 2,000-meter section result
When
Case-study publication and measurement dates unknown
What changed
Connected planning and drilling automation reduces manual handoffs.
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SLB-reported. The 16% drilling-speed gain concerns a different measure; no complete financial return.

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Procurement / AI and automation

Reported improvement

PTTEP

A smaller purchasing backlog

50% less pending-order backlog

Where
Procurement X.Bot; order count unknown
When
Within six months · 2025 report
What changed
AI and conventional automation support procurement processing.
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Operator-reported. Starting backlog and baseline hours unknown; five fewer hours per PO is separate. No AI-only cash return.

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Production / AI and automation

Reported improvement

Presidio Production

More gas from 24 controller-equipped wells

Gas production on the stated population

Where
24 wells; not the whole platform
When
Comparison dates not specified in the cited deck
What changed
Controllers adjust operating wells; wider DOUG program is separate.
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Operator-reported, about 10% on these wells. Do not add this to the overlapping 2.3% program uplift or treat revenue as net cash.

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Refining / AI and automation

Use case stopped

TotalEnergies

The model predicted drum level; it did not answer the switching decision

75% prediction accuracy; use case not retained

Stage
Advisory pilot / one use case reportedly dropped
Where
One delayed coker at Port Arthur, Texas; accuracy denominator unknown
When
Drum work began July 2025; named remarks reported 11 June 2026
What changed
Advisory drum-level predictions left important switching conditions outside the model. Other pilot uses continued.
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Sponsored conference report quoting a named site engineer. No accuracy definition, test count or quantified loss. This is one discontinued use case, not an abandoned AI program.

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Production / AI and automation

Limited value

Marathon Oil / historical West Brae trial

A working model added little value on an already optimized field

Five usable live verification points in four weeks

Stage
Historical field trial
Where
Eight-well West Brae field; not a current deployment announcement
When
Undated historical trial; 12 usable retrospective points over two years
What changed
ML recommended valve movements. Stable operations and larger unrelated changes made small gains difficult to establish.
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NZTC judged additional value limited. The 1% potential and£26.2 mindustry scenario are not realized returns. No cancellation or negative full-cost ROI established.

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Maintenance / AI and automation

Technical limit

Baker Hughes / unnamed Americas operator

Half the failed pumps were missed in the retrospective test

50% sensitivity; nine missed failures

Stage
Retrospective test / later deployment reported
Where
137 pumps overall; 83 failed pumps trained. Remaining failed-test count inferred as 18.
When
Conference 29–30 October 2024; underlying records historical
What changed
Ensemble predictions use ML, reliability models and engineering rules. Engineers choose interventions; the paper separately reports subsequent daily deployment.
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Nine misses and 50% sensitivity imply 18 failed test cases; this denominator is inferred. Five misses involved short circuits. Event definitions depend on maintenance actions. Not a live failure rate or abandonment.

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HSE / AI and automation

Technical limit

UNEP IMEO / MARS

Fewer false alarms came with more missed plumes

Stage
Model test / operational system after redesign
Where
200 EMIT test granules containing 311 labeled plume events; multiple emissions sectors
When
Preprint v2: 24 March 2026; evaluation dates unknown
What changed
Five-model ensemble lowered false alarms, but detected 207 events versus 213 and missed 104 versus 98. People verify candidate plumes.
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Single-model result is a five-run mean; ensemble is one combined prediction. Test counts, not live alert rates or labor savings. A successful redesign, not a cancelled operator project.

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Land & legal / AI and automation

Technical improvement

Toptal / unnamed oil-and-gas technology company

Fewer false positives after attorney-grounded testing

Reported false-positive rate

Stage
Provider-reported technical evaluation
Where
more than 2,000 attorney-validated answers; more than 200,000 documents in the platform universe
When
Publication, operating and evaluation dates unknown.
What changed
Regression tests catch version changes before release; rules and structured legal reasoning support title determination.
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Anonymous client, undated provider case. No independently confirmed live error rate, realized labor saving, full cost or ROI. Reduced false positives does not eliminate human title review. Exact evaluated-decision denominator unknown; document volume is not that denominator.

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IT & data / AI and automation

Technical limit

Snam / Engineering Group

Plant digitization was less reliable on complex systems

42.4% relationship recall at 100 predictions

Stage
Research evaluation
Where
Gas-plant documents; approximately 1,500 ReMi in supplied collection, not verified live deployments
When
Preprint 5 November 2025; evaluation/operating dates unknown
What changed
AI reconstructs information and diagram relationships. Authors identify weaker performance on complex plants.
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Authors provide technical tests, not realized time savings or full-cost ROI. Do not merge abstract summary accuracy with task-specific tables or label this a cancelled rollout. The 95% component and 90% assignment measures concern separate final tasks.

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Drilling / AI and automation

Technical limit

SLB

Overall accuracy concealed poorer coverage of rare drilling risks

89% overall accuracy; 44% equal-class recall

Stage
Patent-application technical example
Where
One GPT-2 comparator in Table 15; exact test population not established
When
Patent application published 5 March 2026; evaluation dates unknown
What changed
More customized models perform better in the filing; the warning is to inspect rare-event metrics, not only overall accuracy.
Read the sources and limits

Applicant-authored technical examples, not an independently validated field outcome. Other examples use differing cohorts and later model configurations. No measured reduction in drilling incidents or complete ROI.

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Refining / AI and automation

Reported improvement

Aramco

Less amine, steam and power in acid-gas removal

10–15% less amine and steam use

Stage
Pilot followed by reported permanent adoption
Where
Fadhili Gas Plant, Saudi Arabia; one plant
When
Pilot October 2024–April 2025; permanent adoption reported, exact date unknown
What changed
Yokogawa reinforcement-learning control adjusts acid-gas removal. Aramco reports fewer manual interventions.
Read the sources and limits

Operator-reported; absolute baseline, control group, full costs and independent validation unknown. Around 5% lesspower is a separate input measure; wider-site deployment was being assessed.

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