Petrobras opened yesterday, Tuesday (6/10), a center of excellence in Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The objective is to ensure that the volume of information generated daily by the company's operations is processed in a more intelligent and secure manner, contributing to decision making in an agile and assertive manner. The creation of the center, in line with Petrobras' strategy of investing in digital transformation and innovation to add value to business, also meets the growing demand of the company's internal sectors for digitizing corporate processes.

“Digital transformation is a strategic priority for Petrobras. With the creation of the Digital Transformation and Innovation department, last year, we promoted changes aimed at making the company more efficient, even safer in operations and better in generating value for its shareholders. In this context, analytics and artificial intelligence are extremely important. Our main business, exploration and production, has very important projects based on this tool capable of revolutionizing the oil industry ”, said Petrobras President Roberto Castello Branco (photo). He highlighted the presence of the Brazilian researcher Nivio Ziviani, professor emeritus of Computer Science at UFMG, who currently serves on the company's Board of Directors.

The center will have an enabling role, by promoting, governing and disseminating the topics of analytics and AI broadly across the company, interacting with all business areas and acting strategically on the best use of data, making it simpler, more accessible and agile the use of digital technologies. One of the products that is already in development is a solution for identification, segmentation and classification of corrosion on platforms. Through image processing, using machine learning, the machines literally learn to identify points where there is corrosion. Detecting problems before they happen is one of the advantages of using AI, which is increasingly used in predictive actions.

“The creation of this center is a milestone for Petrobras. We had been working with individual actions, but now we want to accelerate this, in a collaborative way. The disciplines of analytics and artificial intelligence are pillars in the strategy of building a data-driven company and we need to spread access to them widely. We will unlock the full potential of using data at Petrobras by empowering each employee with the skills and tools necessary to deliver solutions that generate more and more business value ”, analyzed the director of Digital Transformation and Innovation at Petrobras, Nicolás Simone.

The Center of Excellence in Analytics and Artificial Intelligence will work in collaboration with the Petrobras Research Center (Cenpes), with the Petrobras University and with the Center for Excellence in Robotization and Digitization (CERD), whose activities have also started this year.