TotalEnergies chasing business growth through energy transition pursuits with hybrid supercomputer

France’s energy giant TotalEnergies has launched a new generation of its supercomputer, which combines an onsite machine and cloud computing to help propel its energy transition agenda forward and enable the firm to reap the benefits of available opportunities along the way.

While the original model, described as the first industrial supercomputer, was meant for the firm’s exploration and production activities, the new version of Pangea can be used across its portfolio and is envisaged to support energy transition. This hybrid solution entails a physical machine onsite and computing capacities in the cloud.

Pangea 4’s 24/7 computing speed is said to be twice that of the previous version thanks to energy-efficient processors providing a computing power of 5.5 Gflops per Watt consumed. It is more compact, as the number of racks has been reduced to seven, and uses 87% less energy than Pangea II, reducing data centers’ carbon footprint while maintaining peak performance for digital simulations.

“The new system was designed to meet TotalEnergies’ needs over the period 2024-2028, for geoscience computations of course, but also for CO₂ simulation as part of capture and geological storage projects, methane reduction calculations, wind flow simulations for the design of wind farms, and simulations on biofuels and polymers. In fact, all the themes TotalEnergies’ R&D teams are currently working on,” said Jean-Baptiste Richard, Manager of the Scientific Computing department at TotalEnergies.

Apart from the above, the company believes the supercomputer will help with simulations of reservoir storage capacity related to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.

Designed by IBM, the first Pangea model was delivered to TotalEnergies in 2013. Pangea II came into service in 2016, to be replaced by Pangea III three years later, in 2019. While the latter is still in operation, the firm welcomed two new supercomputers in early 2024 to replace it.

Namita Shah, President of OneTech at TotalEnergies, noted: “As yet another demonstration of the Company’s pioneer spirit, the latest incarnation of Pangea strengthens our lead in industrial digital simulation. It combines supercomputing capacity with cloud computing, allowing the Company to meet the growing and increasingly diverse needs of our activities, especially in new energies, in order to help grow our business through our energy transition strategy.”

In another bid to step up its energy transition game, the French major recently entered into a ten-year partnership with SLB to collaborate on developing scalable digital solutions aimed at improving access to energy resources and addressing key challenges across the energy value chain.

Against the backdrop of technological advances, TotalEnergies has not neglected its core business, which has been a mix of investments and divestments. Last week, the firm inked a deal to buy a 60% operating interest in Block STP02 offshore São Tomé and Príncipe.

The energy player is also reported to be reviewing the options for withdrawing from an offshore block in South Africa, where it is one of the partners in a joint operating agreement (JOA) for Block 11B/12B.