Abstract

Advanced, powerful workstations are now being used to perform large, complex reservoir simulation studies at relatively low cost. These RISC-based (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) desktop workstations, using UNIX® operating system software, serve to effectively integrate technologically advanced software from various exploration and production disciplines onto a single, user-friendly, hardware platform. The use of a common interface for all software on fast, powerful workstations provides for decreased costs, faster analyses, and improved productivity. Reservoir simulation engineers now have the hardware and software tools to develop and run large, complex simulation models at the desktop.

The Reservoir Engineering Department of American Overseas Petroleum Limited (Amoseas) is conducting simulation studies of several fields in central Sumatra for P. T. Caltex Pacific Indonesia. Amoseas has aggressively pursued the acquisition and integration of RISC-based desktop workstations into a departmental network for performing these simulation studies. Small simulation models (6,000 cells) as well as very large simulation models (nearly 100,000 cells) have been successfully run using workstation hardware/software.

This paper provides a general overview of versatile RISC workstation hardware and software; specific information is provided based on Amoseas experience and familiarity with an IBM® workstation. The advantages of the RISC machines, and their integration into the existing computer system are also discussed. Reservoir simulation models of the Minas, Bekasap, and Pematang fields are used to provide comparative performance statistics from a RISC workstation (IBM RISC System/6000™Model 550 POWERserver) versus a mainframe computer (an IBM ES/3090™VF Model 600S vector facility).