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Proprietary software demonstrates record performance using 716,800
computer processors
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Reservoir development scenarios can be examined thousands of times
faster
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Efficiency in reservoir modeling reduces time in informing business
decisions
ExxonMobil,
working with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA),
has achieved a major breakthrough with proprietary software using more
than four times the previous number of processors used on complex oil
and gas reservoir simulation models to improve exploration and
production results.
The breakthrough in parallel simulation used 716,800 processors, the
equivalent of harnessing the power of 22,400 computers with 32
processors per computer. ExxonMobil geoscientists and engineers can now
make better investment decisions by more efficiently predicting
reservoir performance under geological uncertainty to assess a higher
volume of alternative development plans in less time.
The record run resulted in data output thousands of times faster than
typical oil and gas industry reservoir simulation. It was the largest
number of processor counts reported by the oil and gas industry, and one
of the largest simulations reported by industry in engineering
disciplines such as aerospace and manufacturing.
“This breakthrough has unlocked new potential for ExxonMobil’s
geoscientists and engineers to make more informed and timely decisions
on the development and management of oil and gas reservoirs,” said Tom
Schuessler, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company. “As our
industry looks for cost-effective and environmentally responsible ways
to find and develop oil and gas fields, we rely on this type of
technology to model the complex processes that govern the flow of oil,
water and gas in various reservoirs.”
The major breakthrough in parallel simulation results in dramatic
reductions in the amount of time previously taken to study oil and gas
reservoirs. Reservoir simulation studies are used to guide decisions
such as well placement, the design of facilities and development of
operational strategies to minimize financial and environmental risk. To
model complex processes accurately for the flow of oil, water, and
natural gas in the reservoir, simulation software must solve a number of
complex equations. Current reservoir management practices in the oil and
gas industry are often hampered by the slow speed of reservoir
simulation.
ExxonMobil’s scientists worked closely with the NCSA to benchmark a
series of multi-million to billion cell models on NCSA’s Blue Waters
Super Computer. This new reservoir simulation capability efficiently
uses hundreds of thousands of processors simultaneously and will have
dramatic impact on reservoir management workflows.
“NCSA’s Blue Waters sustained petascale system, which has benefited the
open science community so tremendously, is also helping industry break
through barriers in massively parallel computing,” said Bill Gropp,
NCSA’s acting director. “NCSA is thrilled to have worked closely with
ExxonMobil to achieve the kind of sustained performance that is so
critical in advancing science and engineering.”
ExxonMobil’s collaboration with the NCSA required careful planning and
optimization of all aspects of the reservoir simulator from input/output
to improving communications across hundreds of thousands of processors.
These efforts have delivered strong scalability on several processor
counts ranging from more than 1,000 to nearly 717,000, the latter being
the full capacity of NCSA’s Cray XE6 system.
About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas
company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing
energy needs. We hold an industry-leading inventory of resources and are
one of the largest integrated refiners, marketers of petroleum products
and chemical manufacturers. For more information, visit www.exxonmobil.com
or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/exxonmobil.
Cautionary Statement: Statements of future
events or conditions in this release are forward-looking statements.
Actual future results, including the results and impact of new
technologies, could vary depending on the outcome of further research
and testing; the development and competitiveness of alternative
technologies; technical and operating factors; and other factors
discussed in this release and under the heading “Factors Affecting
Future Results” on the Investors page of ExxonMobil’s website at
exxonmobil.com.
About the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing and
advanced digital resources for the nation’s science enterprise. At NCSA,
University of Illinois faculty, staff, students, and collaborators from
around the globe use advanced digital resources to address research
grand challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been
advancing one third of the Fortune 50 for more than 30 years by bringing
industry, researchers and students together to solve grand challenges at
rapid speed and scale. The Blue Waters Project is supported by the
National Science Foundation through awards ACI-0725070 and ACI-1238993.
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