PETRONAS recognised at Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025 for reimagining oil and gas operations

The company’s Enterprise AI Agent Programme has empowered employees to automate workflows, achieving multi-million-dollar efficiency gains across its Malaysian operations.

PETRONAS was honoured with the Malaysia Operational Innovation of the Year – Oil and Gas award at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025 in recognition of its 007: Enterprise AI Agent Programme, an initiative that applies agentic AI workflows to advance operational processes and productivity. 

Built on zero-based workflow redesign, zero-touch operations, and continuous digital work, the programme introduces a model that enables employees to build and deploy AI agents within clear operational frameworks. It focuses on three pillars; secure citizen development using Microsoft Copilot Studio, an eight-week certification process, and structured change management linked to measurable business outcomes.

Since its launch in June 2025, the citizen-led programme has sparked more than 600 new ideas, distilled into 100 high-impact initiatives. It has led to the deployment and adoption of a digital workforce of 40 agents, all built by in-house domain experts. The AI agents operate continuously to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce downtime, and shorten delivery timelines.

PETRONAS AI agents are streamlining safety updates, shortening project timelines, and reducing planning efforts. By automating tasks that once required weeks of manual work, the initiative has improved speed, safety, and efficiency across operations.

For example, the AI-Assisted Procedure Checker keeps safety protocols up to date following operational incidents, reducing the likelihood of errors that could lead to production issues. The Plant Change Agent automates a substantial portion of asset workflows, contributing to shorter project lead times and measurable efficiency gains. The Schedule Generation Agent, on the other hand, helps lower planning costs by minimising manual effort.

While these results demonstrate clear value, the real opportunity lies in scalability. Expanding these solutions across more assets would further strengthen risk management and operational efficiency. Each agent serves as a replicable model for broader transformation, supporting a more resilient and agile enterprise.

Overall, the programme has strengthened PETRONAS’ approach to operational improvement. Its practices are being codified in an AI Agent playbook, laying the foundation to scale agentic AI workflows enterprise-wide, ensuring the programme’s value and learnings are sustained beyond its initial phase.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards honours companies that achieve measurable outcomes and address key challenges through innovation and operational improvement, recognising initiatives that drive meaningful progress across diverse industries in the region.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards is presented by Asian Business Review. To view the full list of winners, click here. For more information on the awards programme, you may contact Julie Anne Nuñez-Difuntorum at (+65) 3158 1386 ext 242 or at [email protected].