The future of seismic imaging and technology

Nearly 50 years ago ExxonMobil revolutionized oil and gas exploration with 3D seismic imaging, sending seismic sound waves deep into the Earth’s subsurface and recording the echoes that bounce back to create detailed maps of underground formations.

Researchers use supercomputers, which are purpose-built to handle complex data, to turn sound wave data into detailed 3D images of the Earth’s geological formations.

This breakthrough became the industry standard, revealing oil and gas deposits with unprecedented accuracy.

Thanks to groundbreaking innovations in seismic imaging, we have transformed exploration into a much more precise science and the energy industry can make better risk-based decisions on when and where to safely and efficiently extract oil and gas.

Much of the success is because of advancements in supercomputing that enabled the move beyond 2D into 3D. Now, we’re leading industry innovation in the use of 4D.

Today, we’re excited to share we continue to improve oil development and production through investment in technology with the introduction of Discovery 6, ExxonMobil's latest HPC system. The Discovery 6 supercomputer combined with our elastic Full Wavefield Inversion (eFWI) technology will allow us to increase resource recovery with less capital.

The eFWI technology rapidly creates images that reveal information about rock and fluid properties and insights into where hydrocarbons are present. HPC will enable 4D eFWI, adding time-lapse to further optimize development and production.




Application in Guyana and impact on resource recovery
The deployment of 4D seismic technology and high-performance computing will revolutionize resource recovery. By combining Discovery 6 and eFWI, we target to reduce 4D seismic processing time from months to weeks, resulting in better near real-time visualization, enhanced reservoir management and well placement, and increased resource recovery with less capital. This could enable further >$1 billion potential value capture to our first six FPSOs in the Stabroek Block.

Discovery 6 supercomputer
Built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the new Discovery 6 supercomputer will utilize the HPE Cray Supercomputing EX4000 featuring 4,032 NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and HPE Slingshot interconnect. Installation is expected in the first half of 2025. This system will also employ energy-efficient 100 percent direct liquid cooling. Developed through a partnership between HPE, NVIDIA, and ExxonMobil, the Discovery 6 represents a significant advancement in supercomputing technology.

The upcoming system will boost four times faster computational performance and high-performance networking as compared to its predecessor, Discovery 5 which was ranked 16th on the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers in November 2022.

Our significant investment in high-performance computing capacity will be a key enabler for executing advanced seismic processing technologies on our global corporate assets at scale.