A Kuwaiti innovation at Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is using generative artificial intelligence to make decades of drilling knowledge faster and easier for engineers to access, as the company’s drilling operations continue to expand.
Called Sanad AI, the specialised knowledge assistant was initiated by KOC Senior Drilling and Workover Engineer Yousuf Al-Shammari to address a recurring challenge: finding accurate technical information scattered across standard operating procedures, daily reports, health, safety and environmental guidelines, non-productive time reports and lessons learned from previous operations, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
The need has grown as KOC’s drilling fleet activity increased by 51 percent between fiscal years 2022/2023 and 2025/2026, according to project documents. Sanad AI is designed to bring accumulated technical knowledge directly to engineers, reducing the time spent searching for information.
The project brought together KOC’s Drilling Group, Drilling and Workover Engineering Group and Innovation and Technology Group, with Corporate Information Technology later joining to ensure alignment with institutional governance and information-security requirements. Development began in March 2025, followed by prototype development, incorporation of operating procedures and health and safety standards, testing, validation and implementation. A second phase was scheduled to begin later in 2026.
Sanad AI does not replace engineers or make decisions on their behalf. Engineering judgment and responsibility remain with specialists, while the system is intended to shorten the distance between an engineering question and the knowledge required to support a decision.
The technology was tested during the drilling of a producing well in the Lower Burgan reservoir, where the well was delivered 13 days ahead of schedule. Operational savings associated with applying standard procedures amounted to about 13 days and 97,000 dinars per well. If applied to 47 similar wells, the potential annual savings were estimated at 637 days and approximately 4.5 million dinars.
For KOC, the project also addresses the preservation of institutional knowledge built through years of drilling operations, engineering decisions and lessons learned. Al-Shammari said making this knowledge accessible to current and future engineers means preserving part of KOC’s engineering memory. Sanad AI received the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation Award at the Kuwait Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference in February 2026.
Al-Shammari said the system was designed to support rather than replace engineers, with human expertise remaining central to operational decisions. KOC Drilling Team V Leader Jumaa Bashir also highlighted the project’s practical impact, noting that innovation is strengthened when it begins with a real operational problem and is developed with the participation of specialists.
