In a release sent to Rigzone recently by the company’s Chief Transformation Officer Toni Fadnes, eDrilling announced that it has changed its name to Pions “to reflect the company’s broader vision, evolving technology, and growing ambitions”.
Pions CEO Caroline Vorpenes said in the release, “we’ve been on a journey of reinvention and I’m so excited we finally get to share it with the world”.
“From traditional tools to AI-powered engineers, from legacy software to engineering, reimagined. A new name that reflects both where we’ve been and where we’re going,” Vorpenes added.
Jie Cao, Pions’ Chief Technology Officer, said in the release, “originally focused on AI and digital twins for the oil and gas industry, we are now reimagining and advancing engineering through a new paradigm that integrates physics-based modelling with agentic and generative AI”.
“Our mission is to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges, by building reliable, responsible, transparent, and adaptable AI,” Cao added.
Pions went on to state in the release, “what remains unchanged is our commitment to safety, efficiency, and innovation in high-risk, high-value domains, like well delivery – starting with energy and climate and expanding into the industries that shape the future”.
When Rigzone asked Fadnes why the name Pions was chosen, Fadnes told Rigzone to not “reach much into it” and that “changing the name [was] more important than the name itself”.
Going on to outline some reasons why the company sided with Pions, Fadnes said, “we were pioneers in drilling in the 1990s, we are now pioneers in AI-powered engineers”.
He went on to add that “we are ‘big’ on PI, the number”.
“Our (as in Hitec) first tender back in 1989 was ST314 (so, not one like most other people would) where ST is for Stavanger,” he continued.
Fadnes went on to state that “Peony’s (the flower) is Pions in Norwegian, less to do with the name, but if matches the inclusion of pink in our rebranding”.
When Rigzone asked Fadnes if Pions will still focus on the oil and gas industry following the rebrand, Fadnes said “we will continue our value creation for oil and gas companies”.
“Yet, renaming is, again, to reflect our company’s broader vision, evolving technology, and growing ambitions, which includes enhancing and reimagining engineering in other areas and industries too,” he added.
The website of eDrilling has already been updated to reflect the company’s rebrand. On the new website’s ‘about’ section, Pions states, “we build AI-powered engineers. Agents that think, act, and collaborate with humans to solve the world’s toughest engineering problems”.
“Rooted in physics and powered by AI, we create technology that understand complexity, make informed decisions, and push boundaries. Advancing engineering to accelerate progress, innovation, and sustainability,” it adds.
“Starting with energy and climate, and expanding into the industries that shape the future. Grounded in Physics. Powered by Innovation. Built to break boundaries,” it goes on to state.
Last month, Rigzone asked Fadnes what the latest artificial intelligence developments the oil and gas sector needs to be aware of were. Fadnes’ response to that question can be seen here.
The previous eDrilling website described AI as a “megatrend” and highlighted that the company had built three “AI powered engineers”. These comprised Ida, which was described on the company’s eDrilling site as an AI powered drilling engineer, Nora, which was described on the site as an AI-powered well design and planning engineer, and Marie.
That site had little information about Marie back in April, but a statement sent to Rigzone by Fadnes in March introducing the creation described Marie as an “Agentic AI powered data management engineer”.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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