What is Honeywell Forge?

Honeywell Forge is a suite of industrial AI software for predictive maintenance, process optimisation, and enterprise asset performance. It is widely deployed in oil and gas, petrochemicals, and manufacturing.

How does this compare to Aramco's AI partnerships?

Aramco has broader AI partnerships covering generative AI, cloud, and enterprise software. KPC's deal is narrower and deeper in industrial operations. The two approaches reflect different national economies and different risk appetites.

Does KPC own the AI models trained on its operational data?

Yes. The contract preserves KPC's ownership of models trained on Kuwaiti operational data, a meaningful intellectual property provision.

Are other Gulf NOCs using Honeywell Forge?

Yes. ADNOC and several Saudi petrochemical operators have Forge deployments, though usually alongside other AI partners. Kuwait's full-fleet commitment is the most concentrated in the region.

Will AI cost Kuwait refining jobs?

Some, but the pattern is skill shift rather than net reduction. KPC has committed to retraining affected workers through Kuwait's national workforce programme.

Kuwait Petroleum Is Bringing Honeywell AI Into Every Refinery, and It Is the Gulf's Quietest AI Energy Deal of 2026

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has quietly extended its AI partnership with Honeywell to cover the full national refining portfolio, including Mina Al-Ahmadi, Mina Abdullah, and the new Al-Zour complex. The extension, signed in the first week of April 2026, also brings KOC upstream operations into scope. The deal is smaller in headline value than Saudi Aramco's AI partnerships but potentially more consequential per barrel.

Why Kuwait's move matters

Kuwait's oil production is 70% of its GDP and over 90% of its export revenue. Any operational efficiency gain at the refinery or upstream level lands directly on national income. KPC and KOC have been cautious AI adopters compared to ADNOC and Aramco, in part because of domestic budget pressures during 2023 to 2024. The Honeywell extension is the first full-fleet commitment from Kuwait on AI-assisted operations.

The core product is Honeywell Forge, the company's industrial AI suite for predictive maintenance, process optimisation, and asset performance management.

By The Numbers

Honeywell Forge will cover all three Kuwaiti refineries and KOC upstream fields under the extended contract.
Expected operating cost reduction across refining operations: 4% to 7% annually once fully deployed.
Kuwait's refining capacity totals approximately 1.4 million barrels per day.
KOC operates oil fields producing roughly 2.8 million barrels per day of crude.
Contract duration: five years, with provision for AI models trained on Kuwaiti operational data to remain the intellectual property of KPC.

We selected Honeywell because their industrial AI has the operational maturity we need. This is not a pilot. We are committing the full refining portfolio.
Abdul-Latif Al-Roumi, Deputy CEO, KPC

Kuwait Petroleum Is Bringing Honeywell AI Into Every Refinery, and It Is the Gulf's Quietest AI Energy Deal of 2026

Where the AI actually runs

The deployment has three primary workloads.

Predictive maintenance on rotating equipment, including compressors, pumps, and turbines. Early KPC pilots at Al-Zour showed maintenance cost reductions of roughly 12% with Forge's anomaly detection.
Process optimisation on refining yields. The Forge optimiser sits on top of existing distributed control systems, recommending adjustments that typically yield 1% to 3% throughput gains.
Upstream reservoir management at KOC. This is the newest workload and relies on a combination of Honeywell's tools and Schlumberger DELFI integration for field modelling.

The upstream work is the most complex. Kuwait's heavy and medium crude mix includes the Burgan field, one of the largest in the world, and reservoir management AI has to account for unusually long-duration data patterns.

KPC vs. regional peer energy AI deals

NOC	Primary AI partner	Scale	Focus
Saudi Aramco	Microsoft + Google Cloud	Enterprise-wide	Refining, petrochem, retail
ADNOC	SLB, Microsoft, G42	Enterprise-wide	Exploration, refining, LNG
KPC / KOC	Honeywell Forge	Full refining + upstream	Ops efficiency, predictive
QatarEnergy	Microsoft + Core42	LNG, upstream	Production forecasting
Sonatrach	Accenture, Oracle	Selected pilots
NIOC (Iran)	Domestic	Limited	Constrained by sanctions

KPC's bet is narrower than Aramco's but deeper into industrial operations. That is a sensible focus given Kuwait's refining-heavy economy.

Honeywell Forge has been quietly winning Gulf NOC contracts. The play is industrial AI that ships reliably, not the flashier generative AI work that gets more press.
Mohammed Al-Sabah, Energy Analyst, Kuwait Financial Centre

Why KOC included upstream

The upstream addition is a signal. KOC has been reluctant historically to allow foreign AI into reservoir data because of sovereignty and competitive concerns. The decision to include upstream in the KPC-Honeywell deal suggests the value at stake, even a 2% production optimisation on Burgan field, outweighs residual sovereignty concerns.

The AI in Arabia View: Kuwait's AI story has been underwhelming relative to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Budget discipline, political caution, and a slower digital transformation cycle have all played a part. The KPC-Honeywell extension is the first genuine enterprise-scale AI commitment in Kuwait's oil and gas sector. If it delivers the expected 4% to 7% operational cost reduction, the return is counted in hundreds of millions of dollars annually. That is the kind of demonstrated return that typically unlocks follow-on AI investment across sovereign entities. Watch KIA's investment programme for AI infrastructure in 2026 to 2027; if Honeywell delivers on the refining operations, Kuwait's wider AI strategy accelerates.