Petrobras taps AWS, Microsoft for cloud center

Brazil's state-oil company Petrobras, in partnership with AWS and Microsoft, opened a new cloud computing competence center (CCC).

The goal is to accelerate the migration of workloads to the cloud and enable enhanced applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics in its operations, Petrobras said in a statement.

The company did not disclose the investment but Petrobras previously announced it plans to invest US$1.5bn in digital transformation and innovation in the 2021-25 period.

Petrobras said that much of the cloud will be aimed at expanding its high-performance computing capacity, in conjunction with its existing supercomputers Atlas, Fênix and Dragão.

“I remember that when the division [of digital transformation] was created, in September 2019, we did not use the cloud. Two years have passed and we can say that we are already at the forefront of the cloud use in the market, which makes us more productive and agile, accelerating our innovation process," said Nicolás Simone, executive director of digital transformation and innovation. 

In an interview with BNamericas in May, Simone said the company's goal was to reach around 70 petaflops of processing capacity by the end of this year, up from 21 petaflops in 2020, considering both on-premise processing and processing in the cloud.

Petrobras, he said, was testing simulation environments with AI on the processing capacity of its supercomputers. 

CIO Marcelo Carreras said the idea is to adopt the best practices and technologies in the market and make the best use of innovation and modernization at the Petrobras environment.

"The cloud comes to add, expand horizons and help prioritize the best return. It is a structured movement, in line with our ICT strategy," Carreras said, according to the statement.

In a July event promoted by VMware and Intel, Carreras said the oil giant was aiming to be “cloud-first” and most of its new developments would be implemented through the cloud.

Despite the launch of the CCC, Petrobras' digital processing centers (CPD) will continue to support the company's business processes, the statement said.