Industrial attorney Phil Cha said the midstream sector is starting to come to grips with AI.

Midstream systems are complicated. Pipeline systems can cover thousands of miles and have to track flows, climate and integrity. A lot of midstream companies have begun exploring how AI could be useful.

“There is a mindset change that's well underway, and it's only going to accelerate as we move through 2025,” said Cha, managing partner and team lead of the energy industry group at Duane Morris law firm on May 12.

“We are drowning in data,” said Pierce Norton, CEO of ONEOK, at an April seminar in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when discussing the potential of AI.

Traditional systems monitoring pipeline networks and falling under the classification of SCADA have reliably been in use for decades.

However, AI systems allow network supervisors to change the monitoring software to an offensive, not defensive, role, said Brian Pandya, a former deputy associate attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Traditional systems act like a fire alarm, informing pipeline managers after something has gone wrong, whereas AI systems are more akin to fire prevention, able to detect multiple problem signals and provide a warning before something fails, Cha said.

Cha and Pandya co-authored an article titled “It’s Time for the Energy Industry to Embrace—Not Just Fear—Artificial Intelligence,” for the journal The Legal Intelligencer last year.

As attorneys involved in the contracts for AI systems, Cha and Pandya could not discuss specific clients. Pandya said, however, the implementation of AI systems is ongoing, starting with the major midstream companies.

“With any new technology, I think there’s always some hesitancy, but it’s typically the bigger companies who have more resources,” he said. “Because AI is not cheap, it's an expensive system.”

A few of the major midstream players have discussed their implementation of AI. In an interview with Hart Energy, Enbridge talked about implementing an AI monitoring system that uses data from its flow monitors and aerial surveys to give the company far more insight into its system status.

“When people think of AI, they often think of the privacy risks, the IP risks, implementation risks—and those are real concerns,” Cha said. “But, not just in the energy sector, but across all areas of industry, a lot of people are starting to see the potential, the offensive potential of artificial intelligence.”

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