Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) Wins Coveted Malaysia Digital Experience of the Year Accolade at the 2023 Asian Experience Awards

Its commitment to excellence and innovation shines brightly through its successful migration of HPC infrastructure to the cloud.

Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) emerged as the winner of the Malaysia Digital Experience of the Year - Oil & Gas category at the prestigious Asian Experience Awards 2023.

PETRONAS Digital Sdn Bhd, a powerhouse of technology innovation within the PETRONAS Group, has always set its sights on the horizon, seeking ways to revolutionise the technology sector. At the heart of this commitment lies the company's initiative to migrate high-performance computing (HPC) to cloud—a project that has redefined industry standards, driving innovation and progress in the sector.

The project's primary goal was to enhance computational power, agility, decarbonisation, and cost optimisation. Recognising the need for consolidation, PETRONAS made the bold decision to bring together two separate on-premises HPC systems into a unified, infinitely scalable cloud-based platform.

One of the project's defining features is PETRONAS exceptional creativity and innovation, exemplified by its ability to run 100% seismic processing on the PETRONAS HPC cloud. This feat was achieved by designating Microsoft Azure HPC as the preferred technology platform for upstream business operations. Collaborating closely with industry leader Microsoft and seasoned solution integrator CEGAL, PETRONAS Digital crafted advanced AI and large language model (LLM) use cases tailored for upstream operations on HPC technology. Together, they meticulously mapped out a comprehensive roadmap that is set to redefine the future of PETRONAS's Upstream seismic processing operations.

In 2015, PETRONAS aimed to maximise value through improved subsurface geophysical image data. PETRONAS Advanced Computing Environment - I (PACE-I) was established in 2015, making it the largest in Southeast Asia. Later, it was expanded to PACE II in 2019, serving as the high-performance computing (HPC) solution for PETRONAS. PACE-I went live with 150 Tera Floating-Point Operations per Seconds (TFLOPS) of compute power to meet the requirements of the seismic processing team. Meanwhile, PACE-II became operational in 2019 with 410 TFLOPS of compute power to provide a superior computing experience for Upstream technical users. In 2021, a proof of concept was conducted to assess the feasibility of adopting cloud computing for HPC, which yielded positive outcomes and the potential for cost optimization. Building on this success, PETRONAS HPC was onboarded into the Azure Cloud platform, providing approximately 3 Peta FLOPS (PFLOPS) of total compute resources and more than 4 Petabytes of Parallel File System capacity in 2023.

PETRONAS not only met but exceeded its key performance indicators (KPIs), including heightened customer satisfaction, significant reductions in carbon emissions with energy-efficient data centers, and annual infrastructure cost savings, underscoring the profound impact of the initiative.

Beyond these impressive results, PETRONAS' innovative approach has opened an array of new business prospects. The introduction of the Cloud Commercialisation Platform, designed for PETRONAS' Petroleum Agreement Contractors (PAC) and Joint Venture (JV) Companies, exemplifies the company's visionary stance. By becoming the first company in Asia to fully onboard HPC supercomputing on the cloud, PETRONAS has inspired others in the industry to explore similar solutions, fostering innovation and progress in the sector.

With the dynamic and ever-evolving oil and gas industry in mind, the company designed its cloud infrastructure with scalability and flexibility in mind, allowing it to efficiently adapt to changing business needs, scale resources as demands fluctuate, and harness emerging technologies.

As a forward-looking step, PETRONAS-Microsoft-CEGAL plans to establish an HPC Innovation Factory and Energy Incubation Engine—a bold initiative that will foster collaboration amongst diverse energy R&D programs from all stakeholders. This commitment to continuous innovation and collaboration underscores PETRONAS's dedication to staying at the forefront of the industry.

PETRONAS' journey in migrating HPC to the cloud exemplifies its unwavering commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and industry leadership. By identifying stakeholders' needs, adopting a creative approach, and successfully achieving its objectives, PETRONAS has made a significant impact both internally and to the industry. The project's flexibility and adaptability ensure that PETRONAS will continue to evolve and capitalise on progressive opportunities.

The Asian Experience Awards is presented by Asian Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2024 awards programme and be acclaimed for providing meaningful brand experiences to stakeholders, please contact Jane Patiag at [email protected].