Petrobras Accelerates Linear Solvers with NVIDIA Grace CPU

Unlocking the Power of Reservoir Simulation: How Petrobras and NVIDIA Are Revolutionizing the Energy Sector

Summary: Petrobras, a leading Brazilian energy company, has achieved significant advancements in reservoir simulation by leveraging the NVIDIA Grace CPU. This collaboration has resulted in faster time-to-solution, greater energy efficiency, and higher scalability compared to traditional x86-based CPUs. This article explores the key aspects of this partnership and how it is transforming the energy sector.

The Importance of Reservoir Simulation

Reservoir simulation is a critical tool in the energy sector, enabling companies to optimize resource exploration and production. By simulating complex scenarios and comparing them with real-world field data, reservoir engineers can minimize exploration uncertainties and improve success rates. High-performance computing (HPC) plays a pivotal role in this process, and Petrobras has been at the forefront of leveraging HPC to enhance their simulation workflows.

The SolverBR Project

A critical aspect of reservoir simulations is solving linear systems, which can consume up to 70% of computational time. Petrobras collaborated with UFRJ and other research institutes to develop SolverBR, a CPU-based linear equations solver. This project aims to optimize sparse linear solvers for better performance and accuracy, integrating them into both proprietary and third-party simulators.

Key Features of SolverBR:

• CPU-Based Linear Equations Solver: Designed to optimize sparse linear solvers for better performance and accuracy.
• Integration with Proprietary and Third-Party Simulators: Ensures versatility and wide applicability in various simulation workflows.
• Collaborative Development: Involves partnerships with UFRJ and other research institutes to leverage collective expertise.

Transition to Arm-Based Architecture

Petrobras, in partnership with NVIDIA and Brazil’s CESAR Innovation Center, has successfully ported SolverBR to the NVIDIA Grace CPU, an Arm-based processor. The NVIDIA Grace CPU features a 72-core Arm Neoverse V2 and high-bandwidth LPDDR5X memory, delivering exceptional performance and energy efficiency.

Benefits of the NVIDIA Grace CPU:

• High Performance: Up to 4.5x faster time-to-solution compared to traditional x86-based CPUs.
• Energy Efficiency: Up to 4.3x greater energy efficiency, reducing operational costs and environmental impact.
• Scalability: 1.5x higher scalability, enabling more complex simulations and better resource utilization.

Performance and Energy Efficiency

Initial benchmarks demonstrated significant improvements, with the NVIDIA Grace CPU outperforming x86-based processors. This success was facilitated by robust open-source compilers and debuggers, enabling a seamless transition from x86 to Arm. Singularity containers were used to ensure reproducibility across different platforms.

Benchmark Results:

Future Plans

Following these promising results, Petrobras plans to port and benchmark their entire geomechanical and reservoir simulation workflows to the NVIDIA Grace architecture. This initiative aims to further enhance their operational efficiency and reduce time-to-solution.

Key Objectives:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Streamlining simulation workflows for faster and more accurate results.
• Reduced Time-to-Solution: Minimizing the time required for simulations to improve decision-making and resource allocation.
• Expanded Scalability: Enabling more complex simulations to tackle challenging exploration and production scenarios.

Conclusion

The collaboration between Petrobras and NVIDIA has marked a significant milestone in the energy sector, demonstrating the potential of high-performance computing to revolutionize reservoir simulation. By leveraging the NVIDIA Grace CPU, Petrobras has achieved remarkable advancements in speed, energy efficiency, and scalability. This partnership sets a new standard for the industry, paving the way for more efficient and effective resource exploration and production. As the energy sector continues to evolve, the integration of cutting-edge technology like the NVIDIA Grace CPU will be crucial in meeting the increasing demands for energy while minimizing environmental impact.