IBM has published a report concerning three quantum computing use cases already being explored by chemicals and petroleum companies.
Some quotes from this report:
It has already been demonstrated that quantum chemistry simulations will likely outpace classical solutions once powerful enough quantum computers are built. Using quantum computers, enterprises may drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to locate oil fields or develop new chemicals. Think about the impact this can have on your company’s revenue and risk profile.
For example, the simple hydrocarbon, Naphthalene (C10H8), could be modeled with ~116 qubits, but it would require a classical computer with 1034 bits to do the same. For perspective, 1034 bits is 7.1 billion times the total volume of data predicted to be stored electronically by 2025 —perhaps 175 zettabytes.
