Energy Workforce’s Energy Technology Committee, led by Jack Nassab, DNOW, hosted its fifth annual seminar this week exploring “technologies driving power and automation” at NOV. The seminar explored key trends shaping the energy sector, from LNG demand and supply dynamics to the future of power generation and AI integration. Industry leaders shared insights on how evolving customer needs and digital innovation are reshaping project planning, infrastructure investment, and operational strategies across the energy services landscape.
Technology and Natural Gas Market Outlook
The seminar opened with a technology market outlook from Bill Austin, Daniel Energy Partners – who also moderated the Power Demand panel. In his outlook, Austin remained cautious for the 2025 outlook, particularly in north America, but with momentum internationally in the offshore space. He also discussed technology differentiation as margin defense as the sector finished reporting out for the first quarter.
Matt Barr, Cheniere Energy, gave the customer perspective where he highlighted the company’s leadership in the entire LNG value chain, from production to delivery. He highlighted the growing global demand for LNG, particularly in Asia and Europe, and stressed that increased supply—driven largely by U.S. projects—is essential to meeting long-term energy needs through 2040.
Power Demand and AI Application Panels
During the Power Demand panel, Geoff Bland, Life Cycle Power; Aaron Hilber, NexTier; and Brendan Gilbert, Solaris Energy Infrastructure dove into one of the fastest-evolving topics in the energy space: the outlook for power demand, generation, and infrastructure. This panel brought a mix of operational expertise, technical insight, and real-world execution across oilfield services, distributed generation, and energy infrastructure.
“Efficiency doesn’t decrease demand, it increases use and adoption” Gilbert said when referring to how increased power production and availability will not taper demand in the short and medium term.
Whether offshore, onshore, or in the digital economy, the need for reliable, scalable, and efficient power is front and center—and it’s reshaping how companies think about project planning, capital allocation, and operational strategy.
In a similar vein, the AI Applications panel, featuring Graham Dey, NOV; Ben Dickinson, NexTier; and Steve Ko, Rivitt explored how oilfield service companies are prioritizing AI development based on evolving customer needs, from predictive maintenance to real-time optimization. Led by Richard Rodriguez, ClearSync Solutions, the group discussed the challenges of data ownership and integration, and how companies are balancing automation with human expertise to ensure AI solutions augment—rather than replace—field operations.
“Through these AI tools and technologies are able to provide a consistency to our customers” Dickenson said when asked about the return on investment for AI applications and how they’ve been applied in drilling.
If you are interested in joining the Energy Technology Committee, please reach out to VP Energy Policy, Maria Suarez-Simmons.
Thank you to NOV for hosting the event and Allison Transmission and Endeavor Resources for sponsoring the seminar.
Maria Suarez-Simmons, Senior Director Energy Policy, writes about industry-specific policies for the Energy Workforce & Technology Council. Click here to subscribe to the Energy Workforce newsletter, which highlights sector-specific issues, best practices, activities and more.
