HOUSTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- British oil giant BP said Thursday it is building a newfacility in Houston that will house what it says will be the world's largest complex ofsupercomputers for farther and faster search for oil and gas.
BP officials said construction has already begun on the three- story, 110,000 squarefoot (about 9,900 square meter) facility, part of the company's five-year, 100-million-U.S. dollar investment in high-performance computing, according to The HoustonChronicle website.
The new high-performance computing center, scheduled to open in 2013 , will enablescientists to produce clear images of rock structures deep underground that can beused to identify potential drilling targets for oil and natural gas.
The new facility, which will replace a smaller existing one, will be equipped with 67,000computers and is expected to be able to process data at a rate of two petaflops, aroughly 63 percent increase in speed from its existing facility's capabilities.
"This is not just about building a bigger and better computer," Robert Fryar, BP'sexecutive vice president of production, said in a statement.
"BP's new high-performance computing center will be as important to our global searchfor new energy resources as any piece of equipment we employ today, and it onceagain highlights BP's commitment to applying the best technology to the world's biggestenergy challenges," he said.
