Talk About Entanglement! Quantum and ExxonMobil

Here's a wild idea. Take an out there concept like quantum computing. Combine it with the name of some oil majors. Then Google it.

TIP: Use the following search string to Google® several oil majors in the same query: quantum AND (exxonmobile OR chevron OR conoco OR shell OR total)

Some results of the search appear below ...

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Total is exploring quantum algorithms to improve CO2 capture
15/05/2020
News
Paris – Total is stepping up its research into Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies by signing a multi-year partnership with UK start-up Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC). This partnership aims to develop new quantum algorithms to improve materials for CO2 capture. Total’s ambition is to be a major player in CCUS and the Group currently invests up to 10% of its annual research and development effort in this area.
To improve the capture of CO2, Total is working on nanoporous materials called adsorbents, considered to be among the most promising solutions. These materials could eventually be used to trap the CO2 emitted by the Group's industrial operations or those of other players (cement, steel etc.). The CO2 recovered would then be concentrated and reused or stored permanently. These materials could also be used to capture CO2 directly from the air (Direct Air Capture or DAC).
The quantum algorithms which will be developed in the collaboration between Total and CQC will simulate all the physical and chemical mechanisms in these adsorbents as a function of their size, shape and chemical composition, and therefore make it possible to select the most efficient materials to develop. Currently, such simulations are impossible to perform with a conventional supercomputer, which justifies the use of quantum calculations.
“Total is very pleased to be launching this new collaboration with Cambridge Quantum Computing: quantum computing opens up new possibilities for solving extremely complex problems. We are therefore among the first to use quantum computing in our research to design new materials capable of capturing CO2 more efficiently. In this way, Total intends to accelerate the development of the CCUS technologies that are essential to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050” said Marie-Noëlle Semeria, Total's CTO.
Read full text at: https://www.total.com/media/news/news/total-exploring-quantum-algorithms-improve-co2-capture
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Atos partners with Total to tackle decarbonization using quantum algorithms
Paris, 7 July 2020
Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, announces a multi-year partnership with French multinational energy company Total, to explore new and more effective pathways to a decarbonized, energy-efficient future using quantum technologies. Leveraging Atos’ unique Center for Excellence in Performance Programming (CEPP) and Quantum R&D Program, this partnership aims to use quantum calculation to identify new materials and molecules that will accelerate society's journey to carbon neutrality.
This announcement follows Total’s acquisition, in 2019, of the world's highest-performing commercially available quantum simulator, Atos Quantum Learning Machine (Atos QLM). Atos QLM is used by Atos and Total to test and accelerate existing quantum algorithms or create new ones to achieve breakthroughs in various fields, in particular the discovery of new materials for carbon capture or energy storage. Their work focuses, amongst other things, on simulating larger complex molecules than what is currently possible with HPC technologies in order to uncover more efficient and affordable adsorbents.
As part of the partnership, Atos’ team of quantum experts supports Total in finely tuning quantum algorithms for optimal results and offers technical support on the Atos QLM.
Read full text at: https://atos.net/en/2020/press-release_2020_07_07/atos-partners-with-total-to-tackle-decarbonization-using-quantum-algorithms
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ExxonMobil and World's Leading Research Labs Collaborate with IBM to Accelerate Joint Research in Quantum Computing
ExxonMobil, CERN, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Join the IBM Q Network
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y., Jan. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Energy giant ExxonMobil and some of the world's pre-eminent research laboratories including CERN, Argonne, Fermilab, and Lawrence Berkeley are joining the IBM Q Network, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today at the 2019 Consumer Electronics show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The IBM Q Network is the world's first community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs working with IBM to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications for business and science.  For example, future applications for quantum computing may include untangling the complexity of molecular and chemical interactions leading to the discovery of new medicines, or finding and developing new materials for automotive application through quantum chemistry.
"The scale and complexity of many challenges we face in our business surpass the limits of today's traditional computers," said Vijay Swarup, vice president of research and development for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. "Quantum computing can potentially provide us with capabilities to simulate nature and chemistry that we've never had before. As we continue our own research and development efforts toward advancing new energy technologies, our agreement with IBM will allow us to expand our knowledge base and potentially apply new solutions in computing to further advance those efforts."
The IBM Q Network provides its organizations with quantum expertise and resources, quantum software and developer tools, as well as cloud-based access to IBM's most advanced and scalable commercial universal quantum computing systems available. In addition, the no-cost and publicly available IBM Q Experience now supports more than 100,000 users, who have run more than 6.7 million experiments and published more than 130 third-party research papers. Developers have also downloaded Qiskit, a full-stack, open-source quantum software development kit, more than 140,000 times to create and run quantum computing programs.
"As we continue to explore practical applications for quantum computing, it's critical we partner with businesses and organizations from a variety of industries and disciplines," said Bob Sutor, vice president, IBM Q Strategy and Ecosystem.
"These organizations will work directly with IBM scientists, engineers and consultants to explore quantum computing for specific industries. They will have cloud-based access to IBM Q systems, as they work to discover real-world problems that may be solved faster or more efficiently with a quantum computer versus a classical computer."
The organizations joining the IBM Q Network include:
   ExxonMobil will become the first energy company to join the IBM Q Network. Together, ExxonMobil and IBM will explore how quantum computing may address computationally challenging problems across a variety of applications. Quantum computing could more effectively solve large systems of linear equations, which will accelerate the development of more realistic simulations. Potential applications include optimizing a country's power grid, more predictive environmental and highly accurate quantum chemistry calculations to enable the discovery of new materials for more efficient carbon capture.
   CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, will work with IBM to explore how quantum computing may be used to advance scientific understanding of the universe. The project will bring together IBM and CERN scientists to investigate how to apply quantum machine learning techniques to classify collisions produced at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory's IBM Q Hub, announced in 2017, now includes member labs: Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. These national government labs will be part of the broader IBM Q Network with access to IBM Q's commercial systems. Being part of the IBM Q Network facilitates collaboration among all hubs, and with IBM scientists and engineers to accelerate the effort to develop practical quantum applications.
   Argonne National Laboratory will develop quantum algorithms to help tackle challenges in chemistry and physics. New algorithms will also be used to model and simulate quantum network architectures and develop hybrid quantum-classical architectures, which combine the power of quantum processors with Argonne's world-class supercomputing resources. Membership in the IBM Q hub will enable Argonne researchers to leverage their expertise in scalable algorithms across a broad set of multidisciplinary scientific applications and explore the impact of quantum computing on key areas including quantum chemistry and quantum materials.
   Fermilab will use quantum computers for machine learning to classify objects in large cosmology survey applications, as well as optimization techniques to better understand the results of hadron collisions, and quantum simulation to research the potential of studying neutrino-nucleon cross-sections.
   Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will use IBM Q systems as part of its quantum information science research to develop and simulate a variety of algorithms for studying strong correlation, environmental coupling, and excited state dynamics in molecular complexes and materials; novel error mitigation and circuit optimization techniques; and theories resembling the standard model in high-energy physics.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory will use quantum computers along with high-performance supercomputers to benchmark new methods for studying strongly correlated dynamics in quantum materials, chemistry, and nuclear physics.
For more information about the IBM Q Network, as well as a full list of all partners, members, and hubs, visit https://www.research.ibm.com/ibm-q/network/
Read full text at: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2019-01-08-ExxonMobil-and-Worlds-Leading-Research-Labs-Collaborate-with-IBM-to-Accelerate-Joint-Research-in-Quantum-Computing
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Quantum Computing Potential Draws ExxonMobil into Partnership with IBM
By Carolyn Davis               
January 10, 2019
ExxonMobil Corp. is partnering with IBM to advance the use of quantum computing to develop next-generation energy and manufacturing technologies.
With the partnership, formally announced during the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, ExxonMobil became the first energy company to join the IBMQ Network, a community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and national research labs working to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications for science and business.
Advances in quantum computing could provide ExxonMobil with an ability to address computationally challenging problems across a variety of applications, including the potential to optimize a country’s power grid, as well as perform more predictive environmental modeling and use highly accurate quantum chemistry calculations to enable discovering materials that could lead to more efficient carbon capture.
The partnership also expands ExxonMobil’s collaborative efforts with other companies and academic institutions that are working on an array of energy technologies, that among other things are aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The supermajor now works with about 80 universities in the United States, Europe and Asia to explore next-generation energy technologies.
Read full text at: https://www.naturalgasintel.com/quantum-computing-potential-draws-exxonmobil-into-partnership-with-ibm/
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Shell works with Leiden and VU researchers on quantum computer algorithms for chemistry
26 May 2020
Shell cooperates with theoretical physicists and chemists of Leiden University to research how quantum computer algorithms can help simulate complex molecules.
Quantum computing is a revolutionary technology, where the often unintuitive characteristics of quantum mechanics merge with information theory to solve certain specialised computational problems very differently, and possibly much faster, than on computers available today. Computational chemistry is one of those problems. It is of great interest to Shell’s fuel retail, chemicals, catalysis and new energies businesses. Quantum computers of the scale needed for solving complex challenges do not yet exist. Shell has entered a 5-year collaboration with Leiden University and VU Amsterdam to progress this field, and to discover how to use them across Shell’s businesses.
Quantum speedup
Computers perform calculations using ‘classical’ bits: electronically-coded ones and zeroes. A quantum computer is a different beast. Founded on the laws of quantum mechanics, its basic unit of information can be either 1 or 0, or in a superposition of both at the same time. This unusual feature allows for multiple calculations to be performed in parallel. Mathematicians and physicists in the 1980s and 1990s showed that this principle can be used to dramatically reduce the computational effort for certain types of calculations, resulting in what is called a 'quantum speedup' over regular computers.
Quantum computing has the potential to simulate chemical interactions at a speed and scale fundamentally exceeding what is possible today. Molecules are quantum mechanical systems and solving the underlying equations is impossible on today’s supercomputers for even small molecules without crude approximations.
quantum chemistry calculation of the hydrogen molecule
Molecules speak quantum
Quantum computing will be a critical enabler to simulate complex chemical systems at industrial scale, such as catalysis in petrochemical operations. Even more important is the faithful modeling of complex chemical processes at the core of many low carbon-intensity technologies such as photocatalysis for capturing and storing solar energy, water electrolysis to make green hydrogen, the capture and conversion of CO2, and the partial oxidation of methane to elemental carbon and hydrogen.
Read full text at: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2020/05/shell-works-with-leiden-physicists-on-quantum-computer-algorithms-for-chemistry
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Will Quantum Computers Replace Their Classical Counterparts?
Classical computing isn’t going away, but quantum technology has the potential to disrupt many industries. It’s crucial to leverage the strengths of both to unlock quantum’s full potential.
Rhea Moutafis
Expert Columnist
Ph.D. student in physics at Sorbonne Université and an MBA fellow at Collège des Ingénieurs laying the foundations for a future startup.
January 13, 2021
The promises of quantum computing are plentiful: It could help develop lifesaving drugs with unprecedented speed, build better investment portfolios for finance and usher in a new era of cryptography. Does that mean quantum computing will become the standard and classical computing will become obsolete?
The short answer is no. Classical computers have unique qualities that will be hard for quantum computers to attain. The ability to store data, for example, is unique to classical computers since the memory of quantum computers only lasts a few hundred microseconds at most.
There’s no doubt that quantum computing will transform many industries in the next decade. Classical computers will always play a role, however. As always, though, the devil is in the details: Which problems are better suited for quantum, and which for classical computers? Which industries will profit most from adopting a hybrid quantum-and-classical computing strategy?
Quantum Won’t Replace Classical Computers
Quantum computing has existed since the early 1980s. Four decades later, though, and we still don’t even have three dozen quantum devices worldwide. The first hands-on proof of the quantum advantage, i.e., that quantum computers are a lot faster than classical computers, was only demonstrated by Google in 2019.
According to a recent McKinsey report, we still might not even have more than 5,000 quantum machines by 2030. This isn’t just because it will be hard to store data for a long period in quantum computers or to operate them at room temperature, either. It turns out that quantum computing is so fundamentally different from classical computing that it will take time to develop, deploy and reap the benefits of the technology.
One example of such a fundamental difference is that quantum computers can’t give straightforward answers like classical computers do. Classical computations are quite simple: You provide an input, an algorithm processes it, and you end up with an output. Quantum computations, on the other hand, take a range of different inputs and return a range of possibilities. Instead of getting a straightforward answer, you get an estimate of how probable different answers are.
This style of computing can be very useful when dealing with complex problems in which you have many different input variables and complex algorithms. On a classical computer, such a process would usually take a very long time. Quantum computers could narrow down the range of possible input variables and solutions to a problem. After that, one can obtain a straightforward answer by testing the range of inputs that the quantum computer provided with a classical computer.
Classical computers will therefore remain useful for decades to come. Their continued relevance is not just a question of how long it’ll take for quantum computers to be developed enough to reach mainstream adoption, either. It’s also about the fuzzy nature of the solutions that quantum computing returns. As humans, we prefer straightforward answers, which can only be obtained by classical computers.
If it makes strategic sense, companies in these sectors should follow suit with front-runners like Barclays or ExxonMobil, and build a team of quantum talent in-house. Such talent is scarce already, and it’s quite unlikely that universities will be able to keep up with the expanding demand. As an alternative, they could consider directly partnering with companies that are developing quantum technologies, which may give them a competitive advantage down the road.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that these companies will stop using classical computers. Rather, quantum computing will bring them huge benefits on specific tasks, such as drug development, financial engineering and more.
Read full text at: https://builtin.com/software-engineering-perspectives/quantum-classical-computing
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Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Services, Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

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