HPE supercomputing capabilities increase ExxonMobil’s 4D seismic imaging capacity

Mapping the earth’s subsurface with HPE supercomputing-powered 3D seismic imaging

Nearly 50 years ago, ExxonMobil, one of the world’s leading energy providers, revolutionized oil and gas exploration with 3D seismic imaging, sending sound waves deep into the Earth’s subsurface and recording the echoes that bounce back to create detailed maps of underground formations.

Researchers use supercomputers, which are purpose-built to handle complex data, to turn sound wave data into detailed 3D images of the earth’s geological formation.

This breakthrough became the industry standard, revealing oil and gas deposits with unprecedented accuracy.

Over time, this increased accuracy in seismic images helped the energy industry reduce risk by making better decisions on when and where to safely and efficiently extract oil and gas.

That’s where the power of supercomputing from HPE comes in. High performance computing (HPC)  can process vastly more complex data and reduce the time it takes to process this data.

Combined with seismic imaging, supercomputing technology enables more detailed images, which in turn reveals more information about rock properties. This includes patterns of direct hydrocarbon indicators (DHI), which can indicate the presence of hydrocarbons that form the basis of crude oil, natural gas, and other important energy sources.

The deployment of 4D seismic technology and HPE high performance computing power will revolutionize resource discovery. By combining these technologies, ExxonMobil will have better near real-time visualization, leading to enhanced reservoir management and well placement. Additionally, the new technology will allow researchers to more accurately interpret subsurface data, delivering data insights from depths of more than 3 miles below the ocean floor. 

ExxonMobil will deliver 4D seismic results faster with its latest supercomputer

ExxonMobil’s upcoming Discovery 6 system, will boost computational performance and high-performance networking by 4X as compared to its predecessor, Discovery 5.

Discovery 5 ranked 16th on the TOP500 when it debuted on the list of the world’s fastest supercomputers in November 2022, achieving 30.99 PFlops (Rpeak). The upcoming Discovery 6 is also based on an HPE Cray Supercomputing EX4000, which makes 4D seismic imaging more actionable by featuring 4,032 NVIDIA GH200 Grace-Hopper Superchips  – delivering higher performance for applications running massive amounts of data – HPE Slingshot interconnects, and energy-efficient direct liquid cooling. This system will boast faster seismic capability with a performance of approximately 222 million billion mathematical operations per second, equivalent to a peak of 222 PFlops (Rpeak).