INOVA Announces Five New Land Seismic Products

HOUSTON, September 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- New product launch addresses industry challenges

At the Society of Exploration of Geophysicists conference in San Antonio, INOVA Geophysical announced the introduction of five new products distinctly designed to infuse greater flexibility into land seismic operations. These technological advancements will provide geophysical contractors and E&P companies with more options while addressing key challenges around the industry's emerging trends. Together, all of these new or redesigned technologies address common industry concerns and offer opportunities for productivity gains.

Today's announcement marks the beginning of the most significant product launch since the formation of the company in 2010.  INOVA Geophysical is a global independent land seismic equipment manufacturer formed as a joint venture of BGP, the world's largest land seismic contractor, and ION Geophysical, a leading technology-focused seismic solutions company.  Though a relatively young company, by leveraging the array of ION's state-of-the-art, pioneering land seismic technology combined with BGP's operational experience, INOVA has been able to quickly produce advanced seismic land technology with real positive impact. This is an exceptional quantity of new products for a geophysical equipment manufacturer and demonstrates the company's commitment to listening to its customers and quickly providing viable solutions to their problems.

According to Steve Bate, INOVA's President and Chief Executive Officer, the introduction of the products is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between INOVA and its customers. Real field operational experience helped guide product development through feedback from customers who worked closely with INOVA to identify need gaps in their land seismic operations. "In our highly competitive industry, our advantage comes from being out in the field with our customers," Bate said. "These new products provide more breadth to our portfolio and offer our customers a competitive edge through capabilities that will allow their crews to be more productive and address core acquisition issues in new ways."

Of great interest to the geophysical community is the launch of a new cableless platform of land acquisition systems. Equipment operators are increasingly turning to cableless seismic operations to overcome obstacles, reduce footprint and comply with environmental regulations. Following this trend, INOVA now offers two cableless systems: the redesigned FireFly® DR31 and a new autonomous node Hawk™ SN11 recording system.

The new generation of FireFly, the DR31, delivers all the previous benefits of the radio-based cableless system including reduced system weight, improved operational efficiency, reduced HSE (health, safety and environmental) risks, and operational visibility into the spread. The Hawk SN11 recording system is based on a wireless platform without radio infrastructure. It operates autonomously and is ideal for swift operations where visibility into the operation is not necessary. Hawk offers visual status checks through LED indicators and presents a user-friendly system for wireless data harvesting in the field.

One of the main advantages of the new cableless platform is integration. FireFly and Hawk can be used independently or together, depending on the operator's project requirements. Both systems share many of the same operational software and hardware components and the flexibility to support analog geophones or INOVA's VectorSeis® digital multicomponent sensor. Also an added benefit is a new aluminum enclosure that is now shared across many INOVA products. The new enclosure provides increased durability and leakage protection for extended product life and better investment returns for customers.

Another addition to the INOVA equipment portfolio includes the new UniVib™, a smaller, more agile vibrator truck with options for shaker and accelerated weight drop. Despite its reduced size, the vehicle also offers flexibility in the choice of maximum ground force, from 15000 lbf up to 25000 lbf.

INOVA's VectorSeis ML21 Digital Sensor has also been enhanced with a reinforced mechanical housing to withstand operational and environmental wear and tear. The sealing structure has been field tested and modified to improve pressure distribution. A 17% improvement on power consumption is another achievement on the new design.

INOVA has also now enabled its renowned ARIES® II cable acquisition system with digital sensor capabilities. This means that with a Digital Sensor RAM (remote acquisition module) ARIES II now supports VectorSeis multicomponent digital sensors in addition to analog geophones. This added feature expands the functionality of the ARIES II recording system in complex reservoirs, where geophysical contractors can benefit from multicomponent data that reveals valuable information such as fracture orientation or lithology determination.

Glenn Hauer, INOVA's Senior Vice President for Product Management, oversees the development of new products for the company. "We spend a great deal of effort listening to our customers. Our development engineers are in the field constantly to understand the demands on our equipment. This has been the basis of our development process. As we better understand customer needs, we are better prepared to quickly develop suitable solutions. These new technologies are the result of that effort," stated Hauer.

About INOVA Geophysical Equipment Limited

INOVA Geophysical Equipment Limited is a leading provider of land geophysical technology, including source and source control systems, cabled and cableless land acquisition systems, and advanced seismic digital sensors. Managed as an independent company, INOVA is a joint venture owned 51% by BGP (a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation) and 49% by ION Geophysical Corporation (NYSE: IO). Additional information about INOVA is available at http://www.inovageo.com.

Contacts
INOVA Geophysical
Mr. Fernando Hernandez
Director of Marketing
Phone: +86-10-6598-0782