Introduction

  • TL;DR: Global energy technology company SLB (formerly Schlumberger) announced the launch of Tela™, a new agentic AI assistant specifically designed to revolutionize the upstream energy sector, on 2025-11-03. This move underscores SLB’s aggressive focus on digital sales growth. Tela, leveraging SLB’s Lumi™ data and AI platform, is not a mere automation tool but a proactive collaborator capable of understanding goals, making autonomous decisions, and taking actions. The launch directly targets the industry’s critical need to overcome the dual challenges of a diminishing skilled workforce and escalating technical complexity in operations. SLB forecasts that this digital segment, now reported separately, will achieve double-digit year-on-year sales growth.

SLB introduced Tela™, an agentic AI assistant for the upstream energy industry, on 2025-11-03. Built on the Lumi™ platform, Tela integrates Large Language Models (LLMs) and Domain Foundation Models (DFMs) to go beyond simple automation, performing complex tasks like interpreting well logs and optimizing equipment performance autonomously. This technology addresses the sector’s challenge of a smaller, aging workforce combined with greater technical complexity. The initiative is central to SLB’s strategy to significantly boost its digital sales, following an 11% QoQ revenue growth in that segment.

1. The Core Technology: Agentic AI and the Lumi™ Ecosystem

Tela is built on the concept of agentic AI, following a common five-step loop: observe, plan, generate, act, and learn. Unlike traditional automation, this allows the AI to act as a proactive partner, augmenting human ingenuity across subsurface and operational workflows.

Tela’s technical foundation is rooted in the Lumi™ data and AI platform, which provides the necessary data and computing power. By utilizing domain-specific context through Large Language Models (LLMs) and Domain Foundation Models (DFMs), the AI can generate insights and adapt workflows in real-time, tailored to the unique complexities of the energy industry. Rakesh Jaggi, President of Digital & Integration at SLB, stated that Tela marks a paradigm shift where the convergence of a century of domain science and cutting-edge digital technology redefines how work is executed.

Why it matters: The use of DFMs alongside LLMs ensures that Tela’s autonomous decisions are grounded in vast, energy-specific technical knowledge, making the AI’s actions more reliable and applicable in high-stakes operational environments than general-purpose AI.

2. Addressing the Dual Industry Challenge

The energy sector is currently navigating a period of both workforce reduction and increasing operational complexity, particularly in fields like deepwater drilling and new energy systems. Tela is SLB’s direct answer to this predicament. By automating and optimizing tasks such as well log interpretation, drilling problem prediction, and equipment performance optimization, Tela allows the leaner workforce to focus on high-value, complex problem-solving. It empowers engineers to diagnose issues and optimize wells in minutes rather than days, as seen in the recent joint launch with ADNOC of the AiPSO (AI-powered Production System Optimization) platform, which is also powered by Lumi.

Why it matters: Tela offers a quantifiable solution to mitigate the risk associated with an aging and shrinking expert workforce, providing an intelligence layer that maintains, and potentially increases, operational efficiency and safety despite the constraints.

3. Strategic Impact on SLB’s Digital Growth

Strategic Impact on SLB’s Digital Growth

The launch of Tela is a key component of SLB’s strategic pivot towards digital enablement and is expected to be a major driver of its digital sales growth. SLB began reporting its digital business as a separate segment in the last quarter and forecasts double-digit growth for this segment year-on-year. The digital sector’s revenue increased by 11% from Q2 to Q3 2025.

Tela’s integration into SLB’s portfolio of applications and platforms positions it as a cross-domain solution, from subsurface characterization to production. This broad applicability across the value chain is critical for realizing the full commercial potential of the digital segment and securing SLB’s position as a leader in the energy technology landscape for decades to come.

Why it matters: Tela’s commercial success is vital to validating SLB’s digital-first strategy, transforming the company’s revenue profile by establishing digital solutions as a core, high-growth revenue stream alongside traditional services.

Conclusion

SLB’s introduction of the Tela™ agentic AI assistant on 2025-11-03 is a significant step in the digital transformation of the energy industry. By combining specialized domain expertise with advanced AI capabilities, Tela is poised to enhance operational efficiency, address workforce challenges, and serve as a cornerstone for SLB’s ambitious digital sales goals. The industry will closely monitor its deployment and the tangible business outcomes it delivers in the challenging upstream sector.

Summary

  • SLB launched Tela™, an agentic AI assistant tailored for the upstream energy sector, on 2025-11-03.
  • The technology is powered by the Lumi™ platform and uses LLMs and DFMs for autonomous, domain-specific decision-making.
  • It is designed to combat the industry’s dual pressures of workforce shortage and increasing technical complexity.
  • Tela is a core driver for SLB’s digital segment, which aims for double-digit year-on-year revenue growth.
  • The platform is already being deployed in large-scale initiatives, such as the AiPSO platform with ADNOC.

#SLB #Tela #AgenticAI #EnergyTech #DigitalTransformation #UpstreamEnergy #LumiPlatform #Innovation

References

Summary:

  • Key Takeaways in 3-5 bullet points:
    • SLB launched Tela™, an agentic AI assistant tailored for the upstream energy sector, on 2025-11-03.
    • The technology is powered by the Lumi™ platform and uses LLMs and DFMs for autonomous, domain-specific decision-making.
    • It is designed to combat the industry’s dual pressures of workforce shortage and increasing technical complexity.
    • Tela is a core driver for SLB’s digital segment, which aims for double-digit year-on-year revenue growth.
    • The platform is already being deployed in large-scale initiatives, such as the AiPSO platform with ADNOC.

Hashtags: #SLB #Tela #AgenticAI #EnergyTech #DigitalTransformation #UpstreamEnergy #LumiPlatform #Innovation

References (Source Log: Title · Medium · Date Posted · URL)