Cairo: Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi affirmed on Friday that increasing oil production is a high priority for the petroleum sector, stressing the importance of the usage of modern technology and artificial intelligence to achieve this goal, most particularly in the existing oil fields.According to State Information Service Egypt, in an event held by the American Halliburton company for oil service, the minister praised the role of artificial intelligence and digitization in improving the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing, stressing the ministry's full support for adopting these advanced technologies.For his part, senior vice president of Halliburton for the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region Rami Yassine stated that Egypt plays a pivotal role in the petroleum and gas industry, noting that technologies implemented through partnerships with the Egyptian petroleum sector have contributed to greater utilization of resources.During the event, Halliburton announced that it pursues introducing artificial intelligence applications in hydraulic fracturing processes in the Egyptian market through the Zeus IQ intelligent fracturing platform that autonomously controls the implementation of these processes.