Explor, Halliburton and AWS Collaborate to Achieve Breakthrough with Seismic Data Processing in the Cloud
CALGARY, AB, CANADA – September 9, 2020 - In collaboration with Halliburton and AWS, Explor has achieved a key milestone with seismic data processing in the cloud.
Explor successfully ran Seismic Processing, a DecisionSpace® 365 cloud application powered by iEnergy on AWS, leveraging a range of different elastic compute instances to optimize key seismic processing workflows. In the first phase of a proof of concept, multiple benchmarking tests were run which demonstrated:
- An 85% decrease in CDP sort order times: Tested by sorting 308 million traces comprising of 1.72 TB from shot domain to CDP domain, completing the flow in an hour.
- An 88% decrease in CDP FK Filtering times: Tested with a 57 million-trace subset of the data comprising 318 GB, completing the flow in less than 6 minutes.
- An 82% decrease in pre-stack time migration times: Tested on the full 165 million-trace dataset comprising of 922GB, completing the flow in 54 minutes.
For this project, Explor provided the 3D seismic dataset, data science and geophysical expertise. Landmark, a Halliburton business line, provided the Seismic Processing, a DecisionSpace® 365 cloud application powered by iEnergy and technical expertise, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) provided the cloud computing resources and a team of technical experts and Solutions Architects.
Working together on the project, Explor, Halliburton, & AWS were able to optimize the cloud solution to reduce total processing timelines by 90 percent.
"This outcome will drive a step-change in seismic data processing and is a key stepping-stone in the digital transformation of the global seismic industry. By reducing both timelines and the CapEx burden on seismic data processors, the industry will be able to scale on demand as we acquire ever-increasing seismic trace densities." – Allan Châtenay, President, Explor
"Explor is committed to working with industry partners to create an ecosystem that can support ultra-high-density acquisition. Seismic data processors will access on-demand cloud computing to support surges in demand, helping processing companies reduce cost and timelines in these very challenging times. We look forward to working with a range of industry partners in support of this effort." - Allan Châtenay, President, Explor
Halliburton's Seismic Processing, a DecisionSpace® 365 cloud application powered by iEnergy, built on proven SeisSpace software technology is one of the leaders in the industry, delivering a flexible, extensible, user-friendly seismic processing application/foundation. This project delivered the first scalable cloud-deployed seismic processing engine as part of Halliburton's strategy to deliver lowest TCO in the age of digital transformation.
"The collaboration with AWS and Explor demonstrates the power of digital investments that Halliburton is making, in this instance to bring high-density surveys to market faster and more economically than ever before. By working with industry thought leaders like Explor and AWS, we have been able to demonstrate that digital transformation can deliver step-change improvements in the seismic processing market." – Philip Norlund, Geophysics Domain Manager, Halliburton, Landmark
To achieve the desired scale and reduce the seismic processing timelines by 90%, different steps of the project required access to a variety of compute instances (total of 38K cores) and high throughput storage, which the teams were able to provision on-demand as needed. AWS provides the most elastic and scalable cloud infrastructure to run these types of HPC applications. With virtually unlimited capacity, engineers, researchers, and HPC system owners can innovate beyond the limitations of on-premises HPC infrastructure.
"This industry transforming project with Explor and Halliburton is a great example of the value AWS's comprehensive set of cloud services brings. HPC on AWS removes long wait times and lost productivity often associated with fixed capacity on-premises. Flexible compute, storage, and networking configurations allow users to grow or shrink infrastructure environments as needed based on business requirements. Additionally, with access to cloud-based services like Data Analytics, and Machine Learning (ML), users can redefine traditional HPC workflows and innovate faster." – Barry Bolding, Director HPC, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
About Halliburton
Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry. With approximately 40,000 employees, representing 140 nationalities in more than 80 countries, the company helps its customers maximize value throughout the lifecycle of the reservoir – from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production throughout the life of the asset. Visit the company's website at www.halliburton.com. Connect with Halliburton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
About Explor
Explor is a privately held Canadian company that develops innovative geophysical technologies and methodologies to acquire and deliver high quality geophysical data with minimal environmental impact. Explor employs a diverse team of qualified scientists across a range of scientific disciplines as well as project teams and logistics experts to accomplish its objectives through a rigorous and relentless continuous improvement process. Explor specializes in challenging and extraordinary projects.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Allan Châtenay at 403-263-5950 or email at explor@explor.net. Explor can also be found at www.explor.net and on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.