DHAHRAN — The Saudi Aramco Development Company, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, on Monday announced it has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Cognite AS (Cognite), a global industrial software company and a majority-owned subsidiary of Aker ASA (Aker), as part of the two companies’ strategic partnership on industrial digitalization and sustainability initiatives.

The JV is one of the initiatives in the previously signed memorandum of understanding and will establish a new company to focus on digitalization across industries in Saudi Arabia in particular and the Middle East and North Africa in general.

As part of the JV, Saudi Aramco will use Cognite’s flagship data platform, Cognite Data Fusion, as its core technology, besides taking advantage of the most advanced cloud capabilities for hosting data, analytics, and artificial intelligence.

Senior vice president for technical services of Saudi Aramco Development Company, Ahmed Al-Saadi, confirmed that Aramco has adopted an ambitious digital transformation program with the aim of transforming into the world's leading digital energy company, which will maximize shareholder value, and place the company at the global forefront in digital innovation in the energy sector.

For his part, the president and CEO of Aker ASA and chairman of Cognite’s Board of Directors, Oyvind Eriksen said that we are committed to making our strategic partnership with the world’s largest integrated oil and gas company a resounding success.

We believe Aramco’s deep operational expertise, combined with Cognite’s track record of developing and deploying industrial software for digital frontrunners, will be a powerful catalyst for the commercial success of the joint venture and the advancement of digital transformation across heavy-asset industries. — SG