The pilots worked. Now they have to scale
You have probably run one. Most operators here have. A model that predicted the failure, a trial that found the losses, a proof of concept that worked on the test data and then stalled somewhere between IT, procurement and the people who would have had to run it.
Very few have reached production. The reasons repeat: legacy data nobody trusts, a procurement cycle that outlives the business case, and nobody left to own it once the vendor goes home.
This is one day in Lagos for the people doing that work. What has gone into production across upstream, gas and downstream operations, what it cost, what broke, and who to work with next.
Every session is built around the operational challenges you are actively working to solve.
Why Nigeria? Why now?
The March 2026 approval of fiscal incentives for the $20 billion Bonga Southwest Aparo project, operated by Shell with NNPC and projected at 150,000 barrels per day, has galvanised upstream investment across the sector. NNPC is targeting $30 billion in new upstream capital by 2030, and ExxonMobil has committed $1.5 Bn to Nigerian deepwater development.
At the same time, NNPC has initiated the implementation of AI and digitalisation across the energy ecosystem with the active participation of operators, the PTDF is explicitly funding AI, IoT and robotics adoption, and nearly $1 billion in data center investment has been announced, including a 100MW AI campus in Lekki. The tools, the capital and the regulatory pressure have all arrived at once.
This conference is where the people navigating that shift meet: one day to hear what is working, test what you are planning against your peers, and find the partners you will need next year.
Key Market Indicators
Forty-three field development plans were approved last year. The technology choices on those projects are being made now.
$20bn Committed capital across 43 field development plans approved by NUPRC in 2025
1.7bn Barrels of oil unlocked by those plans, alongside 7.7 tcf of gas
10bcf/d NNPC gas production target by 2027, rising to 12bcf/d by 2030
Who is in the Room
The full energy value chain, alongside the international technology and supply chain companies that want to work with it.
- National oil companies and independents
- International oil companies
- Gas, midstream and LNG operators, processors and distributors
- Refiners, marketers and product distribution companies
- EPC and oilfield service companies
- Technology and OEM vendors supplying AI, IoT, data analytics, pipeline technology, drilling tools and digital infrastructure
- Government ministries and regulators
- Development finance institutions, project finance teams and private equity
What You Will Leave With
- What worked here. Deployments from operations like yours, with the numbers, the failures and the things nobody puts in a case study.
- A shortlist you can defend. Live demonstrations anchored to a named operator problem, judged on evidence rather than slides.
- An answer to your own problem. Nine roundtables. Choose the one closest to what is blocking you and spend an hour on it with people in the same position.
- A written record. The five recommendations agreed at every table, compiled and sent to you afterwards, ready to put in front of your leadership.
- The partners you will need next year. Who is actually delivering, and how those contracts get structured under the NOGICD Act.
What the Conference Will Cover
- Where the capital is going - Where the money lands across deepwater, gas, refining and brownfield. What operators will actually buy in the next 24 months, and how technology partnerships actually get structured here.
- Making it work in operations - From reservoir and refinery to pipeline and plant. Production optimisation, asset integrity, pipeline surveillance, process control, metering and product losses, emissions monitoring and compliance. What has gone into production, and what stopped at pilot.
- Getting it bought and built in Nigeria - Digital procurement and supplier onboarding, the NOGICD Act as it applies to software and digital services, Nigerian Content partnership models, and keeping the engineers you train.
The Day at a Glance
One full day. Keynotes, panels, roundtables, exhibition and structured networking, moving from strategic direction in the morning to operational and commercial detail in the afternoon.
- Morning, the direction of travel. A keynote on the energy sector in 2027 and a panel on where the technology spend will go, followed by a panel on scaling AI in energy operations and a fireside chat on deepwater technology partnerships.
- Afternoon, execution. The Innovation Showcase straight after lunch, a panel on digitalising gas processing, pipelines and product distribution, a panel on digital supply chain and local content, and nine roundtables covering what operators are working on now, from first AI pilots to operational technology cybersecurity.
- Innovation Showcase. Selected technology companies demo solutions built for the operators in the room, live and direct to an audience of decision-makers.
- Exhibition, open all day. Technology stands in the networking area, open from registration through the evening reception, with every break and lunch served alongside them.
- Evening networking reception. The day closes at 17:00 with a hosted drinks reception and the announcement of the 2027 edition.
Join the Inaugural Edition
Digitalisation and AI in Energy West Africa is for the people who have to make it work.
Whether you operate, build, supply, regulate or invest, this is where the next conversations start.