Rezaei said
digital transformation in the petrochemical industry had moved beyond the
deployment of IT systems and tools and was increasingly tied to how data was
collected, exchanged and used for decision-making and regulation.
Given the
scale of petrochemical complexes and the volume of data related to feedstock,
production, sales and operations, NPC, as the industry regulator, needs
reliable and timely information, he said.
However, he
stressed that effective regulation does not require the regulator to access all
information held by petrochemical companies.
Instead, a
secure and targeted framework for data exchange should meet the regulator’s
information requirements while protecting companies’ data confidentiality,
Rezaei said.
From data
to regulation
Rezaei said a
shared understanding of the value of data should be established before focusing
on technology.
Petrochemical
companies, particularly private businesses, need to see a clear benefit from
providing accurate and timely information to the regulator. If companies
recognize that data sharing can improve management of the wider industry
ecosystem, they are more likely to participate, he said.
He referred
to this approach as technology-based regulation, or RegTech, under which the
private sector contributes its technology and operational experience while the
regulator uses the resulting information to improve oversight.
Rezaei said
some petrochemical companies were already leading in digital transformation,
information security and artificial intelligence, adding that the industry
should make greater use of their experience.
He also
stressed that regulators should request only data essential to carrying out
their responsibilities.
Federal
data exchange
Rezaei
proposed federal data governance and exchange as one possible model.
Under such a
system, NPC would not receive all the information held by a petrochemical
complex. Instead, it would receive specific data without unnecessary details,
provided that the information was accurate, reliable and timely.
Algorithms
could also be provided by the regulator to individual complexes so that
required analysis and insights could be generated within each company, he said.
Such an
approach could increase private-sector participation while allowing commercial
data to remain within the company and reducing cybersecurity and
confidentiality concerns.
Rezaei said a
comprehensive industry data lake could eventually provide information not only
to the petrochemical sector but also to industries dependent on petrochemical
products.
“Shahab”
smart energy system
Rezaei said
Iran’s Seventh Development Plan requires the Oil Ministry to establish a
comprehensive intelligent energy management system by the end of the second
year of the plan to monitor flows and processes related to the extraction,
transmission, storage, production and consumption of oil-industry products,
including domestic and export markets.
The oil
industry has therefore been working for the past two years to establish a smart
energy network, known as the “Shahab” system in the petrochemical sector.
He described
Shahab as the first and largest digital-transformation project in Iran’s
petrochemical industry.
The system is
designed to collect information from petrochemical complexes through a federal
model based on a “Zero Trust” approach, meaning companies would not need to
establish insecure connections or broad access arrangements to provide
information.
NPC would
receive only the minimum information required, accurately and in real time, to
balance the industry’s material and energy flows and support smart regulation.
This would
allow the industry to identify energy losses, improve management of scarce
national resources and strengthen regulatory functions, Rezaei said.
He stressed
that Shahab was not intended solely for policymakers. Petrochemical companies
would also be able to use the system’s industry-wide information for business
purposes, such as tracking production and the movement of products.
Pilot
project planned
Rezaei said
the Shahab system had been designed but could not be implemented across the
entire industry at once because of current conditions and national constraints.
The project
is initially planned to be piloted at one of NPC’s affiliated organizations,
such as the Arak-based Research and Technology Company, before being expanded
through a consortium of petrochemical companies.
The pilot is
expected to be ready by the end of November, he said.
Rezaei said
Shahab should not become solely a government project and suggested that greater
private-sector involvement could help ensure companies retain ownership of
their data while the regulator accesses only the information it needs.
Business
intelligence before AI
Rezaei said
the industry should establish business intelligence (BI) before moving
extensively into artificial intelligence (AI).
The first
step is to ensure that accurate and timely data is available and organized in a
data lake, after which it can be used for decision-making. Once reliable BI
systems are established, AI can be applied more effectively, he said.
For example,
access to information on production, sales, prices, weather conditions, the
Strait of Hormuz and global product prices could enable AI systems to produce
more sophisticated pricing models, he said.
“The path
should be accurate data, business intelligence, decision-making and then
artificial intelligence,” Rezaei said.
He cautioned
that deploying AI without adequate data infrastructure could create problems
for the industry. If the underlying data is inaccurate, even advanced AI
algorithms will produce unreliable results.
AI
applications
Rezaei
identified predictive maintenance as one of the most important applications of
AI in petrochemicals, allowing potential equipment failures to be detected
before breakdowns occur.
AI could also
support industrial safety by identifying warning signs before accidents occur
and helping determine which systems should be taken out of operation if an
incident happens.
Computer
vision is another potential application, allowing systems to continuously
monitor images and operational data rather than relying solely on human
observation.
He said NPC
had prepared a comprehensive AI document for the petrochemical industry within
the framework of higher-level national policies and actual industry
requirements.
The roadmap
is intended to identify specific projects based on industrial needs rather than
simply deploying technology for its own sake. International experience from oil
and petrochemical companies has also been reviewed, he said.
Digital
skills and workforce
Rezaei
identified workforce training as one of the major gaps in digital
transformation.
Even
specialists with advanced computer science degrees need training in emerging
concepts such as AI, digital transformation and data governance, he said.
Training should cover employees at different levels, from technical experts to
senior managers.
He also
warned against using AI-generated outputs without verification, saying
inadequate digital literacy could lead to costly mistakes.
NPC has
proposed establishing a digital academy for the petrochemical industry to
improve the digital literacy and technical capabilities of employees and
value-chain partners. The proposal is currently being operationalized, he said.
Industry-wide
digital transformation
About 18
months ago, NPC instructed petrochemical companies to use their existing IT and
innovation capabilities, without creating large new structures or hiring
additional personnel, to establish functions covering innovation, smart
operations and security.
The company
also sought to establish common standards so that petrochemical complexes could
interact with NPC using a common framework.
Rezaei said
NPC had additionally proposed that each company appoint a
digital-transformation officer to oversee the process internally.
He estimated
that around 30% to 40% of petrochemical companies had reached a stage where
digital transformation was generating tangible benefits, while others needed to
continue developing their capabilities.
He said
private companies often recognize the benefits of accurate and timely data more
quickly because the impact is directly reflected in revenues and costs.
Digital
transformation and energy imbalance
Rezaei said
digital transformation alone could not resolve the country’s energy imbalance
but could improve resource management.
International
experience showed that effective use of data could improve organizational
performance by around 10% to 18%, he said. Properly implemented systems such as
Shahab could therefore contribute to better resource management and help reduce
part of the energy imbalance.
He identified
specialized human resources as the industry’s most important current challenge.
The
government sector faces difficulties attracting highly skilled technology
professionals under existing organizational and compensation structures. While
outsourcing can help address the shortage, excessive reliance on contractors
could also result in the loss of technical knowledge and project expertise, he
said.
Rezaei called
for a smaller but more specialized government workforce and greater training
for existing personnel, particularly at management level.
Data
governance as a management framework
Looking ahead
two to three years, Rezaei said IT should serve digital transformation rather
than becoming an end in itself.
Technology
would continue to change, he said, and the industry should therefore focus on
transformation and value creation rather than tying its strategy to any
particular technology.
The ultimate
objective should be better decision-making and changes in value creation and
business models. IT would be successful when its effects could be measured in
decision-making, productivity, safety, cost reduction and overall industry
performance.
Rezaei said
data governance provided the framework for determining where data was stored,
who could access it, for what purpose and when, while also defining
responsibility for its accuracy, reliability and timeliness and establishing
its lifecycle.
But the most
important point, he said, was that data governance only had meaning when data
was actually used in decision-making.
A
sophisticated management dashboard alone does not constitute data governance if
managers continue to make decisions without relying on the available
information.
“If we can
establish a free, secure, accurate and timely flow of data in the industry,
develop Shahab and other required infrastructure, deploy business intelligence
and ultimately build AI on top of these foundations, we can then speak of
genuine digital transformation in the petrochemical industry,” Rezaei said.
The ultimate
goal, he added, is to use data to manage national resources more intelligently,
make more accurate and effective decisions, create greater value and support
more forward-looking decisions for the future of the petrochemical industry.