When Refineries Run Themselves: Honeywell's New AI Play

Honeywell's Experion Cognition debuts at Abu Dhabi's Ruwais complex, bringing autonomous control room operations to petrochemical facilities.

26 Jun 2026

Honeywell has unveiled Experion Cognition, an AI-driven platform designed to run petrochemical and refinery control rooms without constant human supervision. At Borouge International's Ruwais complex in Abu Dhabi, a live proof-of-concept showed the system detecting and correcting abnormal conditions in real time, cutting process errors and squeezing more output from a facility that rarely forgives mistakes.

The workforce problem driving this is structural. Veteran operators are retiring faster than facilities can replace them, and decades of hard-won process knowledge walk out the door with them. Experion Cognition is built to capture that expertise and apply it continuously, independent of who is standing at the console.

Jim Masso, President and CEO of Honeywell Process Automation, put it plainly: "Experion Cognition brings autonomous control rooms into production, driving safer operations and stronger performance in complex environments." For an industry where unplanned downtime can cost millions per day, that is not a modest claim.

For operators running large-scale petrochemical assets, the appeal is concrete. A system that monitors, reasons, and acts during high-stakes process events reduces the cost of gaps in staffing and the risks that come with inexperienced hands on critical controls. More consistent operations also benefit downstream supply chains, where production variability ripples quickly into delivery schedules and pricing.

Ruwais was a deliberate choice of proving ground. One of the largest integrated refining and petrochemical sites in the world, it represents the kind of sustained operational pressure that separates working technology from polished presentations. Passing that test matters. As autonomous control moves from research into commercial deployment, Honeywell's Abu Dhabi result sets a credible benchmark for what the industry can now reasonably expect.