Aramco’s Strategic Modeling Technology celebrates launch of GigaPOWERS Version 9

Aramco’s Strategic Modeling Technology (SMT) celebrated the dedicated talent that has led to the successful development, launch, and deployment of GigaPOWERS version 9 (GP V9) in a special awards luncheon recently. 

GP V9 — and the options introduced with the new version — has provided engineers with the tools to manage Aramco’s reservoirs optimally, and is set to support meeting our ambitions of CO₂ reductions by 2030. 

At the event, Aramco Fellow Ali H. Dogru began by welcoming Waleed A. Al-Mulhim, senior vice president of Petroleum Engineering and Development (PE&D), and the other members of PE&D’s management, SMT team members, and awardees.

Al-Mulhim opened the event, stating, “The development of this technology showcases what Aramco does best; collaboration between talented people across different departments for the betterment of our company.”

Dogru highlighted the Parallel Oil Water Gas Enhanced Reservoir Simulator (POWERS) journey, achievements, and impact, emphasizing the importance of the collaboration between the many organizations involved in making GP V9 a success in Upstream.

“Beginning with an idea to develop an in-house simulator for Aramco, and moving to full deployment of nine versions over almost three decades, requires immense focus, talent, and resources,” said Dogru. 

Our customers and partners were critical in this massive undertaking, and we are privileged to recognize their contributions in today’s dedicated event.
— Ali Dogru

The faces behind the technology

Trophies were awarded to the GigaPOWERS development team, collaborators, and support personnel to recognize the expertise and long-term dedication of each individual, and as a show of appreciation for their continuous technical contributions. The SMT development team was recognized for developing numerous new features in GP V9, and for testing and deployment. 

Dogru mentioned the expertise of the GigaPOWERS lead Tareq M. Al-Shaalan and each team member: Sam Zhen, Michel A. Cancelliere, Shahid Manzoor, Abdulaziz M. Al Baiz, Jason Ding, and Ozgur U. Kirlangic. In addition, the following Reservoir Description and Simulation Department users were awarded for testing numerous GP V9 features: Babatundi O. Moriwawon, Raheel R. Baig, Ahmed K. Shubbar, Hisham E. Salem, Jibran Ayub, Hassan A. Zayer, and Jubril Oluwa. Both Majdi A. Baddourah and Sulaiman AlGannas from the Petroleum Engineering Applications Services Department were recognized for their dedicated hardware support and testing.

With new robust modeling, engineers can better understand and improve CO₂ management, while saving time and effort. GP V9, running industry leading multibillion cell models, enables precise capacity estimation and the design of optimal injection strategies. Moreover, it provides insights into the movement of hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 within the reservoir, ensuring safety and efficiency in long-term storage. 

For example, GP V9 runs a 2-billion cell model describing the storage of 300 million tons of CO₂ in a saline aquifer in 8 hours to study 1,000 years of environmental effects in the aquifer. Such simulation capability allows engineers to run many carbon storage scenarios to find the most optimum storage implementation for the safe storage of carbon without affecting the environment. 

GP V9 has been enhanced with rigorous and fast algorithms to improve the accuracy and runtime of simulations. 

The innovation does not stop with GP V9; the GigaPOWERS team continues to deliver the tailored features requested by Upstream engineers to meet the industry’s evolving challenges. The result is an ever-evolving, powerful, and unparalleled in-house simulator — and the predecessor of next year’s much anticipated GP V10.

Caption for top photo: Award recipients from the GigaPOWERS team, the Reservoir Description and Simulation Department, and the Petroleum Engineering Applications Services Department, with Petroleum Engineering and Development management. (Photo: Abdullah H. Alsihati/MPD)