Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A. has lifted the lid on one of the world’s most powerful new supercomputers, saying it will use the machine to scale up its oil and gas discovery efforts and advance its research into clean energy and decarbonization.

The supercomputer, dubbed HPC6, cost more than €100 million ($104.1 million), according to the company. It’s designed to handle a number of artificial intelligence functions, aided by almost 14,000 integrated graphics processing units.

Eni said the new supercomputer will help it to sift through vast amounts of data related to its exploration endeavors, with the aim being to discover new reservoirs of oil and gas. It obtained this data through drilling operations, seismic survey and various simulations. HPC6 will help it to examine the data and work out exactly where the biggest reserves of oil and gas are located, calculate how big those deposits are, and work out the best drilling strategies to access those resources.

In addition, the supercomputer is expected to help Eni with tasks such as well positioning, production forecasting, reservoir simulation and designing enhanced oil recovery techniques.

This isn’t the first supercomputer operated by Eni. Its older machines have already been used to improve its geological surveys for carbon storage and enhance its carbon storage methods, industrial plant operations and more. It has also designed more efficient batteries and biofuel supply chains with the help of supercomputers, the company says.

Eni said it switched on the HPC6 supercomputer for the first time on Christmas Day at its data center facility in Ferrera Erbognone, in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its specifications suggest it is the fifth-most powerful supercomputer in the world, according to the annual TOP500 rankings.

The Italian firm is notable in that, unlike some of its peers, it designs and produces its supercomputers by itself. This allows it to customize its machines for the tasks it wants to perform, and Eni says this makes HPC6 more efficient than commercially available cloud computing services.

Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said this kind of innovation is fundamental to maintaining the company’s leadership in energy transition. “Technological advancements allow us to use energy more efficiently by reducing emissions and promoting the development of new energy solutions,” he explained.

According to Descalzi, the HPC6 supercomputer will also help the company to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions, which is a state where its emissions of greenhouse gases are in balance with the amount of gases it’s able to remove from the atmosphere.

Photo: Eni