Eni’s latest addition of the HPC4 supercomputer is among the world’s most powerful systems, equipped with a computational capacity of 18.6 petaflops.
Not fluent in computer? Picture that everyone in the world had a computer to carry out 2.5 million operations per second without interruption, that combined result would not have the HPC4’s calculating power, Eni said.
“If we want to understand the organic functioning of our Green Data Center and the most advanced systems, such as the high-performance computer we have recently installed, we need to consider what IT means in the industrial and international context of a large group like ours,” Gabriele Provana, head of Eni ICT operations and end user services, said.
In the outskirts of Milan, Italy, the six-legged, shamrock-shaped Green Data Center (GDC) houses the HPC4, a supercomputer designed to take detailed imaging of oil and gas reserves deep below the Earth.
“In our industry it is increasingly important to be able to process ever-increasing amounts of data, ensuring more accurate and faster results. With HPC4 we are tracing the path for the use of exascale supercomputers in the energy sector that could revolutionize the way in which oil and gas activities are managed,” Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s CEO, said.
The center hosts all of Eni’s processing systems for IT management and began in 2010 as a jumpstart to its green energy initiatives and digital transformation. Each of the two clovers in the GDC’s architecture encapsulate three rooms for IT equipment, two for standard computing and a larger one for HPC.
The HPC4, Eni’s fourth supercomputer installment, has quadrupled its powering ability to process seismic data and oil reservoir simulations. HPC4’s structure has the ability to carry out over 22.4 billion mathematical operations per second with limited energy consumption, Eni said in a press release.
“We needed to be able to focus on as accurate an image as possible of what lies under the earth’s surface, even at 10 to 15 kilometers and over an area of hundreds if not thousands of square kilometers, using a technique known as seismic imaging, and to reconstruct these three-dimensional images using sophisticated mathematical models,” said senior research and development project leader Nicola Bienati on the company’s Eniday website.
This mainframe has essentially expedited the way it manages big data from its upstream, refining and petrochemical assets, according to the company. But, the technology has contributed to major offshore discoveries like the Zohr field and other recent exploration endeavors.
“These technologies will enable us, on the one hand, to accelerate and make the entire upstream process more efficient and accurate, reducing risks in the exploration phase and, at the same time, giving us a significant technological advantage, but also to increase the level of reliability, technical integrity and operability of all our productive plants, while minimizing operational risks, with benefits both in terms of safety and environmental impact,” Descalzi said.
A part of Eni’s green initiatives, a solar panel farm adjacent to the megastructure, meets more than 15% of the HPC4’s energy demand.
“The power of the photovoltaic system is 1 megawatt and the energy it generates could meet the equivalent of the energy demand of more than 500 families,” Patrick Monino, Eni New Energy’s president and CEO, said.
The farm is equipped with a uniaxial solar tracking system capable of increasing the performance of the GDC by almost 20%, according to Monino.
To further meet its low carbon goals Eni opted for a free-cooling system, a natural air-based cooling process, over water-based. This avenue allows the outside air to be absorbed, cleaned via large filters, utilized for cooling measures and dispersed back into the atmosphere cleaner than before, Eni said.
“In line with Eni’s sustainability policy, Eni’s Green Data Center as well as the new HPC4 have been engineered to ensure the maximum level of energy efficiency in order to minimize CO2 emissions and operating costs,” Descalzi said.