OpenAI Signs AI Deployment Deals with Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund and National Oil Company Ahead of Reported Mega-Round
OpenAI secured contracts with ADNOC and Mubadala to deploy AI agents in oil and investment sectors, as the company reportedly seeks a massive funding round before its delayed IPO.
According to Semafor, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman signed four major agreements in Abu Dhabi on November 2, 2026, to deploy artificial intelligence products across government, the oil sector, and sovereign wealth management. These deals come as the ChatGPT maker is reportedly looking to lock down a mega funding round ahead of an initial public offering (IPO).
The largest of the four agreements is with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Signed with G42 subsidiary Inception42, this multi-year deal will deploy OpenAI’s Frontier platform for building and managing AI agents. The system will link decisions across oilfield development, production, refining, and trading, running on G42 infrastructure within the United Arab Emirates. No financial terms were disclosed. Additionally, the Abu Dhabi government is working with OpenAI to make some of its policies readable by AI agents.
A separate agreement involves Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, which will apply OpenAI’s models to analyze potential deals. A consortium of UAE backers, including Mubadala-backed MGX, is expected to be the largest investor in OpenAI’s latest funding round and will get an option to lease new computing capacity in the region, the Financial Times reported.
Altman’s appearance at ADIPEC also highlighted a critical constraint facing the AI industry: energy. Asked onstage about his biggest challenge, Altman gave a one-word answer: “Energy.” He noted that while AI models will become more efficient and cheaper to deploy, the power needed to run them could keep costs high and slow down growth.