RECAP: STONE RIDGE TECHNOLOGY'S ECHELON USER GROUP MEETING 2025, WASHINGTON D.C.

Stone Ridge Technology kicked the year off in the best possible way, with the 2025 ECHELON User Group Meeting. Held at the upscale Intercontinental Hotel at The Wharf in Washington, D.C. on January 27–28, the event brought together professionals and partners from across the Globe, creating a two day program full of insights, innovation, and connection.

A Warm Welcome in the Capital

SRT hosted a 4-hour walking tour of Washington, D.C., under clear blue skies, offering attendees a chance to explore the National Mall and take in some of the city's most iconic landmarks. Our route passed the White House, just days after the presidential inauguration, adding a sense of timeliness and energy to the experience. The tour set a relaxed and welcoming tone for the days ahead. That evening, we gathered for a casual drinks reception with light appetizers, an ideal setting for guests to connect, unwind and ease into the week’s program.

The 12th floor meeting room overlooked the Potomac River, and with the winter sun streaming in delegates were treated to a great view throughout the event.

A Global Gathering of Expertise

We were proud to welcome participants from 15 different companies within the energy sector, including five participants from Eni, our ECHELON Consortium partner.

In his welcome address, our President and CEO, Dr. Vincent Natoli, introduced the Stone Ridge Technology team and encouraged delegates to take full advantage of the two days ahead. He emphasized the unique opportunity for users and developers to engage in meaningful, face-to-face discussions in such a collaborative setting. Dr. Vincent concluded by thanking attendees and presenters for their time and commitment to the ECHELON UGM.

Andrea Lamberti, Eni, followed with a presentation on best practices for co-developing a reservoir simulator like ECHELON. He highlighted how Eni’s deep industry knowledge complements SRT’s strength in computational science and the company's agility. The talk offered a clear picture of the opportunities available to those joining the ECHELON Consortium.

Our third presenter, Eni’s Alberto Cominelli, provided an insightful overview of current global trends in reservoir simulation. He touched on prime oil and gas projects, such as ultra-deep offshore developments, as well as initiatives supporting the energy transition like CO₂ sequestration. He also noted the rising demand for modeling in areas like unconventionals and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Alberto connected these industry shifts with enabling technologies, particularly ECHELON and Artificial Intelligence, which help engineers simulate assets with increasing realism and precision.

Showcasing Innovation and Application

The agenda was a mix of technical talks and real-world applications, illustrating the versatility and power of ECHELON reservoir simulation software. Eight clients presented compelling case studies that demonstrated how they leverage the technology behind ECHELON in innovative and impactful ways. These were interspersed with focused sessions on ECHELON’s role as part of multi-vendor environments, including integration with Petrel™, as well as with Sciencesoft, AspenTech, Amarile and Kappa tools.

Our CTO, Ken Esler, gave a fascinating look at the evolution of reservoir simulation hardware over the last 50 years, highlighting key milestones in CPU and GPU development, and how modern hardware evolution, driven by Generative AI, can deliver performance while balancing cost.

Further expanding on the theme of AI, Klaus Wiegand introduced ENVOY, the industry’s first generative AI assistant for reservoir simulation, highlighting its potential to streamline routine tasks and empower engineers to focus on higher-level analysis. Karthik Mukundakrishnan, SRT’s Director of R&D, followed with a presentation on hybrid workflows that combine ECHELON models with machine learning-based full-field proxies, all executed on GPUs to deliver maximum efficiency.

Additional technical sessions led by SRT’s Yongpeng Zhang and others covered Scripting, and the latest ECHELON advancements; ensemble modeling, integrated asset modeling, thermal modeling, hydraulic fracture modeling, and Embedded Discrete Fracture Modeling (EDFM) with our friends from SimTech. With so many valuable insights shared, we encourage readers to reach out to the SRT team to learn more or explore any of these topics in greater depth.

Dining and Downtown Charm

To close out a packed first day, we gathered for a conference dinner at Fogo de Chão, a short walk from the hotel. The venue was lively, the food exceptional, and the perfect setting to continue conversations sparked during the sessions and to re-fuel for day two!

Looking Ahead

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who joined us and contributed to the event’s success. The spirit of collaboration, the exchange of ideas, and the shared vision for what’s next in reservoir simulation made this user group meeting truly memorable.

Here’s to building on this momentum in 2025 and beyond. See you at the next one!