Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised

Artificial intelligence is moving beyond copilots and generative tools toward systems that can plan, coordinate workflows, and take action with varying degrees of human supervision. For oil and gas, that shift could have significant implications for how operations are managed.
In this episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, Chris Smith speaks with Gino Hernandez, head of global digital business at ABB Energy Industries, about what agentic AI could mean for the future of oil and gas operations.
The discussion explores:
How agentic AI differs from generative AI and today's AI copilots.
How AI agents could transform workflows in the field, control room, and plant.
The importance of data quality, provenance, and context in enabling trusted AI-driven decisions.
How companies can balance greater AI autonomy with operational safety, cybersecurity, and human oversight.
Where agentic AI offers the greatest near-term potential and where the risks demand caution.
What oil and gas executives should do now to prepare for increasingly autonomous operations.
Hernandez examines how the industry could move from using AI to assist in executing individual tasks toward systems capable of coordinating entire workflows and making decisions within defined boundaries. The conversation considers what that transition will require in terms of governance, accountability, and human judgment, and how oil and gas companies can determine where greater AI autonomy creates value without introducing unacceptable risk.
About our guest
Gino Hernandez is head of digital business at ABB Energy Industries. Prior to ABB, he founded Colexas Digital Inc. and Lavoro Technologies Inc., and served as managing director or Rockwell Automation’s Global Oil & Gas business.
Gino holds an industrial distribution degree from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Rice University.

North America's oil supply outlook is entering a new phase. According to Enverus' latest long-term analysis, US shale is "aging, not broken."
In this episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, Mikaila Adams speaks with Dane Gregoris, managing director at Enverus Intelligence Research, about the data behind the firm's outlook for North American oil production.
The discussion explores:
Why US shale growth is expected to slow as inventories mature.
Declining productivity trends and changing inventory quality.
The long-term outlook for the Permian basin.
New technologies that could improve recoveries.
Why Canada is becoming increasingly important to future North American supply.
How infrastructure, LNG development, and market economics could shape production through 2035 and beyond.
Gregoris explains why Enverus expects US production to remain relatively stable over the next decade, what rising marginal supply costs could mean for markets, and how the North American energy landscape may evolve as the industry's most productive shale resources mature.
 

This episode explores why so many subsurface AI projects fail to move beyond the prototype stage and what it takes to successfully deploy AI in real-world workflows. Rather than building custom applications that require significant maintenance and specialized expertise, many organizations are finding greater success with platform-based solutions that already provide secure data access, scalable analytics, and trusted workflows. The discussion also separates genuine AI value from industry hype, highlighting practical use cases across interpretation, field development, and production analytics. Through examples from operators, investors, and consultants, the episode demonstrates how proven platforms can accelerate AI adoption and deliver results faster.
 
For more information, visit:
spotfire.com/industry/Energycommunity.spotfire.comtry.spotfire.com
 
This episode is sponsored by Spotfire.
 

In this Insights episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, downstream editor and lead reporter Robert Brelsford concludes the conversation on process safety management with Joe Barnes, principal of Barnes’ Engineering Consultants and a veteran oil and gas operations, maintenance, reliability, and major-projects leader with more than 30 years of industry experience.
Barnes outlines five priorities for senior leaders and plant managers: maintaining strong operating procedures and management-of-change practices; routinely auditing lockout/tagout procedures; providing effective operator and supervisor training; and preventing deferred maintenance, particularly on critical equipment. He also emphasizes the importance of leadership visibility in the field, encouraging executives and plant managers to regularly engage with operating personnel and understand the condition of equipment and processes firsthand.
During the conversation, Robert and Joe examine the tension between profitability, market pressures, and the investments required to operate safely. Barnes explains why strong financial performance should support investment in equipment, maintenance, training, and people rather than encourage short-term decisions that could increase risk. He also discusses how management should evaluate efficiency measures, staffing changes, maintenance deferrals, turnaround modifications, and capital reductions while keeping process and personal safety central to decision-making.
The two consider how facilities can demonstrate that process safety systems are working in practice through dedicated internal audits, periodic third-party reviews, corrective-action follow-through, and the use of real-world incident scenarios in operator training. Barnes explains how investigation findings can be converted into case-based exercises that help workers recognize hazards, assess risks, and develop the right responses before returning to the field. He also recommends reviewing procedures, emergency-response plans, and process hazards periodically to help ensure they remain current and effective.
Robert and Joe further explore how leaders can create an environment in which employees and contractors feel comfortable reporting weak signals, near misses, and other bad news. Barnes argues that management must investigate reported concerns, respond visibly, and demonstrate that risk identification leads to action. He outlines immediate steps for strengthening process safety culture, including communicating clear and unwavering expectations, protecting critical maintenance, auditing what matters, rewarding the right behaviors, and improving workers’ understanding of process limits.
Barnes closes by emphasizing the importance of visible and consistent leadership, stronger communication of lessons between facilities, and treating process safety as a core operating requirement rather than a temporary investment. He also discusses the role of Barnes’ Engineering Consultants in developing training modules based on major incidents and offers a final reminder that technology and artificial intelligence can improve operations, but human care, judgment, and decision-making remain essential to preventing major incidents.
Reference
Elevating process safety above short-term profits ensures sustainable, long-term resilience, Joe Barnes, Barnes’ Engineering Consultants.
About our guest
Joe Barnes is principal of Barnes’ Engineering Consultants and a veteran oil and gas operations, maintenance, reliability, and major-projects leader with more than 30 years of industry experience. Barnes can be reached on his business mobile at (713) 392-7301.
Editor's Note: This is Part II of a two-part conversation. Check here for Part I. 

Editor's Note: The conversation is broken down into two episodes. Listen today to Part I and stay tuned for Part II. 
 
In this Insights episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, downstream editor and lead reporter Robert Brelsford talks with Joe Barnes, principal of Barnes’ Engineering Consultants and a veteran oil and gas operations, maintenance, reliability, and major-projects leader with more than 30 years of industry experience.
Barnes, who spent roughly half of his career in refining and half in exploration and production, discusses why process safety management must remain a central concern for everyone working in oil and gas—not only safety professionals. Drawing on his experience with a major refinery accident and the aftermath of a separate major offshore incident, Barnes explains why good intentions are not enough to prevent major incidents, particularly in times when the potential for high margins could tempt operator’s into promoting maximized production over execution of maintenance on processing and production installations to ensure safe and reliable operations.
During the conversation, Robert and Joe examine recurring root causes identified through Barnes’ review of process-safety incidents dating back to the mid-1980s, including absence of  leadership, poor communication, inadequate risk identification and mitigation, aging equipment, deferred maintenance, workforce turnover, and the loss of experienced personnel. They also discuss why the industry has sometimes failed to consistently share and apply lessons from previous incidents, particularly when investigation findings are not widely accessible.
The two consider the difference between personal safety and process safety metrics, the warning signs that preceded the 2005 BP Texas City refinery explosion, and the role of management of change (MOC) in evaluating staffing, maintenance, turnaround, efficiency, and capital-reduction decisions. Barnes also outlines the questions boards and executive leaders should be asking to ensure that process safety remains a business priority across economic cycles.
Robert and Joe further explore how refineries can use past incident scenarios as practical training tools, strengthen external oversight and auditing, encourage employees and contractors to report weak signals and near misses, and build a process-safety culture that rewards risk identification and mitigation. Barnes closes with recommendations for protecting critical maintenance, communicating expectations clearly, auditing what matters, and keeping people at the center of process safety decision-making.
 

Offshore energy infrastructure faces an increasingly complex mix of cyber and physical security threats as digitalization, remote operations, and geopolitical tensions reshape the risk landscape.
In this Insights episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, OGJ Upstream Editor Alex Procyk discusses how offshore installations are becoming targets for ransomware attacks, navigation-system interference, supply-chain compromise, and physical sabotage.
There is a growing shift from opportunistic cybercrime toward state-linked and organized criminal actors seeking long-term access to critical infrastructure. As operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) systems become more interconnected, attackers are increasingly exploiting remote access pathways to move from corporate networks into critical operational systems.
Traditional perimeter-based security models are proving inadequate for modern offshore operations and outlines emerging approaches such as cyber-informed engineering, OT-focused monitoring, micro-segmentation, defense-in-depth strategies, and integrated cyber-physical security frameworks designed to improve resilience across offshore platforms, vessels, ports, and subsea infrastructure. Cyber-informed engineering and OT-native security controls are emerging as key defensive strategies.
References
Offshore environments present unique security risks, Oil & Gas Journal, Members Only, Alex Procyk, Aug. 5, 2026.
OTC-36764-MSSecuring Offshore Ecosystems Against Cyber and Sabotage Threats
OTC-36839-MSAccess Management and Operational Security in Critical Infrastructure: A Longitudinal Evaluation of Cyber and Physical Security Breaches in Marine Environments
OTC-36860-MSCyber-Informed Security Architecture for Offshore Energy and Maritime OT Systems
OTC-36928-MSZero-Day Threat: The Silent Cyber War on Energy Infrastructure
OTC-37012-MSRemote Operations for Autonomous Offshore Facilities: Design, Testing and Independent Validation of Secure and Robust Automation
 

This episode is sponsored by Bishopric Industries.

What began as an oil and gas industry where workers relied on experience, instinct, and sometimes...luck...has evolved into one built on rigorous safety systems, risk management, and continuous improvement. In this Then & Now episode of the Oil & Gas ReEnterprised podcast, host Laura Bell-Hammer traces the history of safety in oil and gas, from the uncontrolled Spindletop blowout of 1901 and the invention of the blowout preventer to the structured health, safety, security, and environmental (HSE) programs that guide operations today.
Along the way, OGJ examines major events that reshaped the industry's approach to risk. From Piper Alpha and Texas City to Deepwater Horizon, each disaster exposed vulnerabilities that led to lasting changes in regulations, process safety management, offshore oversight, and industry standards. These lessons helped move safety beyond protecting equipment and toward protecting workers, communities, and critical infrastructure.
The episode also explores how technology is redefining safety and security in the modern energy sector. Smart PPE, predictive maintenance, real-time monitoring, and remote operations are helping identify risks before incidents occur. At the same time, growing digital connectivity has expanded the industry's focus to include cybersecurity, with events such as the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack highlighting the connection between cyber threats and physical operations. 

In this Market Focus episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, Conglin Xu, managing editor, economics, talks with Dennis Kissler, senior vice-president of trading at BOK Financial to discuss what a lasting de-escalation in the Middle East might look like, how OPEC+ strategies might evolve, whether $80-plus crude moves US shale, and where dependence on Gulf chokepoints stands in the years ahead.
About our guest
Dennis Kissler, senior vice-president of trading at BOK Financial, specializes in developing unique hedging strategies to assist producers as well as end users in minimizing energy market risk exposure. A registered commodity trading advisor (CTA), he has worked in the futures trading/hedging industry for more than 27 years, including 12 years as a floor trader/broker at the CME exchange, where he still owns a floor membership.
Kissler has worked for BOK Financial since 2007 helping to establish and grow the energy trade desk which now ranks among some of the largest regional trading/hedging desks in the US. He is a featured commentary provider for various news outlets including Bloomberg News, Reuters, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNBC.

Drawing on two recent Oil & Gas Journal commentaries, this Insights episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast explores why Iraq is once again pursuing alternative pipeline routes through Syria and Türkiye, how expanded export options could strengthen the country's economic resilience, and why these developments matter not only for Iraq, but for global energy markets.
We also examine whether Iraq's growing development ambitions are beginning to diverge from the production constraints imposed by OPEC, and what that could mean for the organization and the broader oil industry.
The discussion incorporates recent reporting on Iraq's agreements with US companies and renewed efforts to revive westbound export infrastructure, placing today's headlines into a broader strategic context. Rather than focusing on day-to-day geopolitical developments, the episode takes a step back to consider the long-term implications for producers, investors, pipeline operators, and energy policymakers.
References 
Hormuz closure emphasizes Iraq’s need for a second oil export route
Reassessing Iraq's OPEC membership in light of national development priorities
Iraq signs 48 deals with US companies during PM’s visit to Washington
Iraq eyes Türkiye, Syria pipeline to curb Strait of Hormuz reliance