High performance computing infrastructure – technology enabler to unlock Nigeria’s oil and gas potential
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Oil and Gas industry has witnessed significant growth over the decades with many countries around the world possessing substantial and proven oil reserves. Nigeria is the sixteenth largest oil producer worldwide with several major and indigenous oil corporations operating in the industry with an average production between 1.2 to 1.5mbpd in 2024 (S&P Global).
The first discovery oil field discovery was in 1956 by Shell-BP in the Niger Delta, and more discoveries have since been made, the most recent being the shallow offshore discovery in Western Niger Delta by Chevron Nigeria and NNPC Limited in October 2024 (NNPCL).
Historically, technology has consistently played a pivotal role in advancing the exploration and production of oil and gas. In the early days of hydrocarbon exploration, the main technique Geologists used to find deposits was by manually searching for surface evidence of subsurface formations. The industry has since developed with more advanced Geophysical techniques often used for discovering oil and gas deposits under the earth’s surface. One of such techniques is Subsurface seismic imaging and interpretation which involves transmitting acoustic waves deep into the Earth’s crust, then recording and analysing the signals that reflect back.
The interaction of the seismic signals with a reservoir of oil and gas helps to accurately identify the reservoir’s location in the earth’s crust. After the reservoir is identified, the reservoir modelling and simulation process is applied to estimate the size of the reservoir to establish if it has hydrocarbon deposits in commercial quantities and to enable informed decision-making regarding field development.
With continuous advancements in the discovery and exploration of more oil fields, Technology remains a key enabler of the geophysical techniques used in hydrocarbon extraction and production, driving efficiency, and contributing to reduction in the unit cost of production. Whilst reservoir simulations in itself are not new, the development of modern digital computers have enabled engineers to perform advanced computing required for the analysis of complex mathematical models in seismic processing of modern digital computers have enabled engineers to perform advanced computing required for the analysis of complex mathematical models in seismic processing.
Engineers now aggregate computing resources using supercomputers and compute clusters to solve advanced computation problems and simulate complex scenarios. This practice is known as high performance computing (HPC).
Current reservoir management practices in the oil and gas industry are often hampered by the slow speed of reservoir simulation and therefore the widespread adoption of HPC into workflows has the potential to significantly improve reservoir simulations and seismic interpretations. Several international oil companies have in the past announced major breakthroughs using proprietary software combined with high performance compute to improve exploration and production output across their global operations.
Some of the benefits HPC offers the Energy industry include:
▪ Acceleration of the processing and simulation of vast seismic datasets, enabling faster identification of potential reserves. The more detailed the seismic data, as well as its processing and interpretation, the more likely the project is to succeed.
▪ Complex reservoir models which are often quite difficult to understand due to complex mathematical expressions, can be run more accurately to predict fluid flow, optimize production, and estimate reserves.
▪ Multiple scenario modelling and ability to run advanced algorithms for imaging subsurface structures to improve drilling accuracy and reduce risks thereby reducing the likelihood of dry wells. A single offshore well can cost over 100 million dollars and therefore a major investment that must avoid costly errors.
▪ Real time analysis monitoring and analysis of field operations which provide actionable insights to improve production performance. There is no doubt that HPC, with its capacity to perform complex simulations at increasingly remarkable speeds is at the forefront of technological innovation, however its large-scale implementation in Nigeria faces several challenges. In 2007, South Africa established The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), and in 2016 unveiled the fastest computer on the continent at the time.
Morocco followed suit in 2021, launching Africa’s most powerful supercomputer centre, with the aim of supporting Moroccan and African academic and industry research and helping to create the next generation of computational scientists and digital entrepreneurs (hpc wire). A few other countries in Africa have followed suit but with low uptake of the technology.
Currently in Nigeria, only a few oil companies utilize HPC on a small to medium scale which could be primarily due to the maturity of the technology market in the region.
In recent times, government and private entities are increasingly emphasizing the importance of digital transformation and technological advancements to drive efficiency in the oil and gas sector even as NNPCL recently announced plans to increase national oil production to 2mbpd by the end of 2024. However, these advancements are largely hampered by slow infrastructure development, high cost of implementation, environmental challenges and in some cases, lack of local and or regional collaboration.
A further look at some of the challenges reveal that though there has been growth in the number of Datacentres in Nigeria, there is a gap in the availability of advanced datacentres to host HPC systems. Traditionally, HPC infrastructure has been hosted on-premises in local data centers due to the significant demand it places on compute resources coupled with the substantial energy and cooling requirements necessary to maintain optimal performance which drive up the cost of building the necessary infrastructure.
However, the global HPC market is rapidly evolving, with cloud based emerging as a competitive alternative. Additionally, there is little or no policy framework to support the research and development of HPC coupled with inadequate government investment which may be due to low awareness on the part of stakeholders, including policy makers and industries on the potential benefits.
Another challenge lies in the fragmentation of efforts across local and regional stakeholders leading to duplication of efforts, low scale implementations and missed opportunities for collaboration. While major players like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure can offer scalable and reliable hosting services, their presence is challenged by high network latency due to a lack of local datacentres and regulations that prioritize data sovereignty. On the other hand, the local cloud hosting landscape is developing but faces limitations in meeting the resource-intensive needs of high-performance computing.
The impact of some of these challenges can be addressed by scaling up investments to develop robust datacentres that utilize more renewable energy sources and innovative cooling solutions to reduce energy demands and improve sustainability of the HPC infrastructure. This can be achieved through policy development and funding mechanisms that support HPC development and attract local and international funding.
In addition, strengthening public-private sector partnerships through collaboration between government, industry and academia, will enable a combination of resources and expertise to overcome infrastructure limitations. We see this evidenced by South Africa and Morocco who successful launched product offerings through such collaborations and partnerships. Collaboration between local and international stakeholders can facilitate a hybrid approach that combines both on-premise hosting in local datacentres and cloud hosting to minimize latency and offer scalability, allowing for more efficient resource management.
Furthermore, the skilled workforce shortage must be addressed through concerted efforts to encourage and fund STEM education at all levels, equipping future professional with the necessary skills to drive technological advancements.
HPC drives innovation and operational excellence in the energy industry and leveraging its capabilities necessitates urgent improvements in the scale and flexibility of our high-performance computing infrastructure. By optimizing the use of advanced technologies such HPC, the oil and gas industry in Nigeria can unlock the full potential of its energy sector and remain competitive long-term in a rapidly evolving energy landscape.
