Adibek 2026 reengineers energy security: AI and infrastructure top global investments

The UAE capital Abu Dhabi is placing energy infrastructure and artificial-intelligence applications at the centre of the international economic dialogue through the “Adibek 2026” conference, scheduled to be held at the Adnek Centre in Abu Dhabi from 2 to 5 November 2026 under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. The broad restructuring of the conference’s format comes in response to a critical convergence the world is experiencing among rising electricity demand, geopolitical volatility, pressure on existing infrastructure and the rapid expansion of computing and data-processing requirements, aiming to shift the global discussion from merely outlining challenges to directing capital and building partnerships for projects that can be implemented immediately.

Abdul-Munim Al-Kindi, chair of “Adibek 2026”, affirmed that recent disruptions in energy markets have reaffirmed a basic truth: economic stability begins with energy security. He explained that the growth of artificial intelligence and its emergence as a backbone of productive sectors imposes on the world the need for proactive investment before demand accelerates, and for diversifying supplies and strengthening the infrastructural and technological foundations that guarantee supply flows.Ensuring energy continuity is no longer merely a matter of hydrocarbon production; it has become an operational prerequisite for protecting computing centres and the stability of digital economies.To keep pace with these shifts, the strategic conference has been redesigned to include 11 programmes and more than 380 interactive sessions, introducing dedicated tracks for energy security and resilience, policy and governance, industrial network implementation, workforce skills, as well as strengthening digital-innovation pathways and industrial and chemical value chains.

This framework extends by linking policy to field implementation through the technical conference in partnership with the Society of Petroleum Engineers, with participation from government delegations and energy-sector leaders, led by Suhail Al-Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Karim Badawi, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Saleh Al-Kharabsha, Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ekpiri-Ekpo Ekpo, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, alongside CEOs of global energy companies.The joint ministerial participation from Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates reflects the growing regional interdependence in managing gas, electricity and transmission networks.

What changes in practice for officials and engineering and planning teams in the Gulf, Egypt and the Arab Levant is a recalculation of infrastructure costs and planning. In Gulf markets, ambitions to build large computing complexes and data-centre hubs encounter a genuine bottleneck tied to the actual capacity of generation networks, the provision of cooling water and electricity-supply stability, which forces national energy companies and utilities to incorporate AI loads as a heavy industrial demand in long-term power-purchase agreements. In Egypt and Jordan, where import-cost pressures and local-load management are rising, the proposed coordination implies the need to steer digital solutions toward improving transmission efficiency and reducing technical losses in existing gas and electricity networks rather than waiting for long-term investment projects.

Regarding skills and technical personnel, this shift moves the required competencies in control rooms and production sites from managing valves and traditional mechanical equipment to monitoring networks through intelligent systems, forecasting loads and managing emissions in real time. We see in this direction a clear indication that winning the AI race in the region will not hinge on importing chips and server hardware, but on securing electric grids capable of operating them without interruption.