20 June 2009
DHAHRAN -- The EXPEC Advanced Research Center (EXPEC-ARC) has been granted a patent (U.S. Pat. 7,526,418) for its invention of a "Highly Parallel, Implicit Compositional Simulator for Multi-Million-Cell Models."
It is the first patent to be granted for Saudi Aramco's industry-leading reservoir simulation technology: Parallel Oil, Water and Gas Enhanced Reservoir Simulator (POWERS), according to a latest report carried by Saudi Aramco's web-site.
A four-member team of EXPEC-ARC has devised GigaPOWERS patented technology.
"This patent recognizes just one of EXPEC ARC's many initiatives that have built the pathway for Saudi Aramco's cornerstone technology, GigaPOWERS™," said Amin H. Nasser, senior vice president of Exploration and Producing.
To simulate the giant reservoirs of the Middle East, hundreds of millions and even billions of cells are necessary to build the reservoir models and illustrate changes over time. Finding a way to harness enough computing power, or to link enough computing resources together to communicate with each other, has been the perpetual challenge throughout the industry.
Over the years, the EXPEC ARC team has overcome many complex computational challenges by providing the capability to simulate the composition of giant reservoirs the type frequently encountered in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the world.
"POWERS and its successor, GigaPOWERS™, have played a crucial role for Saudi Aramco in predicting the production rate of the Kingdom's oil and gas reservoirs over time, determining the types of facilities required, and optimizing well placement to sustain our production targets," said Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani, executive director of Petroleum Engineering and Development.
The invention introduces a method to run the simulation in parallel on numerous types of system platforms and varieties of computers ranging from shared-memory and distributed-memory supercomputers to commercial and generic clusters of personal computers.
The patented simulator also enables timely analysis of giant reservoir models in full detail, using both fine geological characterization and detailed definition of the hydrocarbon components in the reservoir fluids.
DHAHRAN -- The EXPEC Advanced Research Center (EXPEC-ARC) has been granted a patent (U.S. Pat. 7,526,418) for its invention of a "Highly Parallel, Implicit Compositional Simulator for Multi-Million-Cell Models."
It is the first patent to be granted for Saudi Aramco's industry-leading reservoir simulation technology: Parallel Oil, Water and Gas Enhanced Reservoir Simulator (POWERS), according to a latest report carried by Saudi Aramco's web-site.
A four-member team of EXPEC-ARC has devised GigaPOWERS patented technology.
"This patent recognizes just one of EXPEC ARC's many initiatives that have built the pathway for Saudi Aramco's cornerstone technology, GigaPOWERS™," said Amin H. Nasser, senior vice president of Exploration and Producing.
To simulate the giant reservoirs of the Middle East, hundreds of millions and even billions of cells are necessary to build the reservoir models and illustrate changes over time. Finding a way to harness enough computing power, or to link enough computing resources together to communicate with each other, has been the perpetual challenge throughout the industry.
Over the years, the EXPEC ARC team has overcome many complex computational challenges by providing the capability to simulate the composition of giant reservoirs the type frequently encountered in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the world.
"POWERS and its successor, GigaPOWERS™, have played a crucial role for Saudi Aramco in predicting the production rate of the Kingdom's oil and gas reservoirs over time, determining the types of facilities required, and optimizing well placement to sustain our production targets," said Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani, executive director of Petroleum Engineering and Development.
The invention introduces a method to run the simulation in parallel on numerous types of system platforms and varieties of computers ranging from shared-memory and distributed-memory supercomputers to commercial and generic clusters of personal computers.
The patented simulator also enables timely analysis of giant reservoir models in full detail, using both fine geological characterization and detailed definition of the hydrocarbon components in the reservoir fluids.
© Saudi Press Agency 2009
