Oil producer Saudi Aramco has ported its mission-critical seismic data processing application to a cluster of 1,800 Intel processors. The new solution, which has boosted throughput by many folds and is expected to grow to a cluster of 4,000 by year-end, has enabled Saudi Aramco to identify and tap new reserves faster and more efficiently.
For the Saudi Arabian national oil company, which has discovered and oversees one-quarter of the world's conventional oil reserves, accelerating the detection of oil and gas supplies is critical. It continually explores new reserves by collecting vast amounts of seismic data from sound waves it sends through the ground to reveal the geological layout deep below the earth's surface. This data, which is enhanced through a set of compute-intensive algorithms known as Prestack Time Migration (PSTM), is used to create 2D and 3D images of oil and gas targets.
With its data volumes doubling each year, Saudi Aramco had to ensure its PSTM application could grow quickly, efficiently and cost effectively to meet its escalating seismic data processing needs and to maintain its world leadership position.
Intel Solution Services assisted with the optimization of the PSTM code which is installed on the 1800-processor cluster located at Saudi Aramco's exploration building in Dhahran. During two days of intensive programming, Intel Solution Services helped on optimizing the PSTM code by using the Intel Fortran for Linux 6.0 compiler and the Intel VTune Performance Analyzer to identify parts of the code for further optimization.
Saudi Arabia is holder of the world's largest oil reserves - fully one-quarter - at more than 259 billion barrels. State-owned Saudi Aramco is a fully integrated oil company with operations in exploration, production, refining, marketing and international shipping. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
