Conoco builds 0.5 Tflop/s Linux cluster for petroleum industryHouston 30 Aug 2000 Conoco claims it installed the largest Intel-based geophysical computer available in today's petroleum industry. Conoco's new supercomputer is part of the company's state-of-the-art in-house seismic data processing system. It is 0.5 Tflop/s Linux based cluster.
The new supercomputer integrates cost-effective Intel chip
technology, the Linux operating system, advanced tape robotics and 10
terabytes of massive hard-disk storage -- enough to hold the entire
U.S. Library of Congress -- with Conoco's leading-edge proprietary
seismic processing software.
"The real advantage for Conoco of this Intel cluster is that it
will allow us to analyze seismic data faster and cheaper," said Dr.
Alan R. Huffman, manager of Conoco's Seismic Imaging Technology
Center. "The bottom line is this: we control the costs; we control the
data; then we can focus the technical efforts of our geophysical team
on developing the best imaging software necessary to make the very
best decisions for Conoco. People and knowledge, after all, are the
most critical factors in our business. This new supercomputer will not
only give Conoco more computer power to solve complex imaging
problems, but it will also enable us to analyze our data in ways that
were simply not possible or cost-effective before."
The Intel cluster will provide approximately 0.5 teraflops
(trillions of floating point operations per second) of computing
capacity at dramatically lower cost than conventional supercomputers.
All this computing power also means that Conoco will be able to
provide its technical teams with the best geological images available
in a fraction of the time previously required.
The supercomputer and its accompanying disk farm are located in
Conoco's seismic computing facility in Ponca City, Okla. However, the
machine is designed so that it can be accessed from almost any Conoco
location. Sub-clusters can be placed in any office location or aboard
offshore seismic vessels worldwide to allow real-time processing of
seismic data during the field acquisition stage. In order to allow
flexible remote use in the new internet-driven computing era, Conoco
has re-engineered its leading-edge seismic processing software to
operate in the Linux system with an XML-compatible, JAVA-based user
interface.
"Conoco believes that the future of geophysical computing lies in
the new Intel cluster architecture and the Linux operating system; and
we have merged these technologies with our own software to achieve a
milestone in the seismic field," Dr. Huffman added. "Ultimately, these
innovations will improve our reservoir management and assist other
disciplines where advanced computing is critical to our ability to do
certain types of analysis."
"Conoco is committed to building the right tools that will improve
the ways we search for and discover oil and natural gas," said Rob
McKee, executive vice president for exploration and production. "The
supercomputer puts Conoco, which has been ranked number one in
exploration and production results for the second consecutive year
according to Prudential Securities' comparative analysis, in an
enviable industry-leading position. The use of technological
initiatives like this one, as well as our focused upstream strategy
and improved tools such as two world-class ultra deepwater drillships,
are further evidence that Conoco can explore for oil and natural gas
reserves as competitively as anyone in the industry."
Conoco is a major, integrated energy company active in more than
40 countries.
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