Oil and gas giant BP has more than doubled the total computing power of its Center for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) in Houston, making it the most powerful commercial research supercomputer in the world.

Using HPE’s Apollo hardware and Intel’s Knights Landing processors, the upgrade boosts the processing speed from four petaflops to nine. The system has 1.14 petabytes of memory and 30 petabytes of storage.

In search of black gold

“Our investment in supercomputing is another example of BP leading the way in digital technologies that deliver improved safety, reliability and efficiency across our operations and give us a clear competitive advantage,” Ahmed Hashmi, BP’s head of upstream technology, said.

The CHPC is used to support BP’s ‘upstream business segment,’ where it serves as the company’s worldwide hub for research computing - in areas such as advanced seismic imaging and rock physics research - to help with reservoir modeling.

It will also be used by the company’s downstream business for fluid dynamic research - studying hydrocarbon flows at refineries and pipelines to improve operational safety.

Alain Andreoli, SVP and GM of HPE’s Data Center Infrastructure Group, added: “With the expansion and new systems in place, BP will be able to further bolster its capabilities to accurately process and manage vast amounts of seismic data to identify new business opportunities and improve operational efficiency.”

In its latest quarterly earnings (Q3), BP announced profits of $1.87bn, after a surge in oil and gas production. Its renewable energy projects remain only a small part of the overall business, with CEO Robert Dudley saying earlier this year: “It’s fair to say they don’t, as yet, make a material difference to the bottom line.”