Cognite and ABB have announced a partnership to explore how agentic AI and advanced data tools can be joined to address use cases within the energy industry.
The collaboration aims to introduce an agentic layer on top of existing industrial software, including ABB Ability SafetyInsight and ABB Ability AlarmInsight, by utilising the Cognite Industrial AI and Data platform.
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This initiative is designed to support “agent-to-agent” orchestration, which enables established applications to interact autonomously, handle data interpretation, and trigger actions across multiple systems.
Aker BP, an oil and gas producer, will be the first customer to implement these new AI-driven offerings. This is part of ongoing efforts to build on production efficiency and work towards a target of producing 525,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2028.
ABB Ability SafetyInsight is a digital tool for process safety management in high-risk process industries. It works by converting engineering technology (ET) data into digital form, creating a digital twin of process safety that can be compared to actual plant operations to verify system effectiveness.
The application also integrates IT, operational technology (OT), and ET data, providing engineering insights throughout the operational phase, and allowing performance comparisons to original engineering assumptions. According to ABB, these features support reviews and optimisation, with the goal of enhancing safety, boosting productivity, and reducing maintenance costs.
ABB Ability AlarmInsight, another application within the partnership, offers scalable software designed to help operators manage process disruptions in demanding conditions. It works to document, rationalise, and maintain alarm systems so that staff can focus on urgent alerts and respond accordingly.
ABB energy industries division global digital business head Gino Hernandez said: “ABB is committed to helping our customers transition toward autonomous operations.
“By integrating critical industrial applications such as alarm and safety insights with an agent-to-agent orchestration model, customers can prioritise critical interventions, accelerate decision making, and reduce risk to enable safer and more reliable operations.”
The collaboration between Cognite and ABB intends to remove traditional data silos and shift towards outcome-based software orchestration.
Cognite stated that benefits for users, including Aker BP, may include faster completion of tasks such as multi-system risk assessments and alarm rationalisation, more rapid analysis and decision making, and improved risk management. The agentic layer connects disparate data points in real time, aiming to reduce the chance of human error and prevent information overload in crucial operational scenarios.
Cognite founder John Markus Lervik said: “Aker BP is redefining what it means to be an industrial company. By fusing ABB’s domain expertise and industrial applications with Cognite’s Industrial AI innovation, we are moving the energy industry toward a new pattern of operating where systems ‘talk’ to one another to solve its most complex challenges.”
Earlier in the month, Cognite announced “Cognite Flows”, which it describes as a new standard for industrial experiences integrating AI, apps, and data for daily operational tasks. The tool is intended to offer users real-time insights and data from different applications in a single, customisable workspace.
Cognite Flows is integrated with Cognite’s Industrial Knowledge Graph, which, according to the company, provides accuracy and scalability for new applications and insights grounded in live operational data.
