Case Study: ExxonMobil achieves advanced simulation-driven shale-gas extraction capabilities with Dassault Systemes (SIMULIA)

ExxonMobil - Customer Case Study

ExxonMobil needed to strengthen its decades-old in-house simulation capabilities to better address the complex physics of subsurface shale-gas extraction—covering drilling, completion, stimulation, production and waste disposal. To meet this challenge it partnered with Dassault Systemes, leveraging SIMULIA technologies (including the Abaqus solver and 3D visualization) to extend its simulation toolkit beyond laboratory testing and field trials.

Dassault Systemes and ExxonMobil co-developed state-of-the-art general-purpose material models, advanced finite‑element methods (CZM and XFEM), computational procedures for CFD and PFD, and enhanced constitutive models implemented in Abaqus; these methods were rigorously validated against semi-analytical solutions and lab-scale experiments with good agreement. The Dassault Systemes collaboration has improved ExxonMobil’s ability to predict hydraulic fracture growth, anticipate and mitigate drilling-related issues, reduce drilling risk and costs, and accelerate deployment of more economical recovery schemes—strengthening operational competitiveness across its hydraulic fracturing business.

ExxonMobil

Bruce Dale

Chief Subsurface Engineer