SES to Purchase FireFly Solution from I/O
Seismic Equipment Provided for Use by Apache and BP on Field Trial Programs

HOUSTON – May 11 – Input/Output, Inc. (NYSE: IO) announced today that Seismic Equipment Solutions LP (SES), a privately-held Houston company that offers seismic equipment for lease and rental, will purchase the VectorSeis® enabled FireFly™ land imaging system that will be utilized by Apache and BP as part of their previously-announced, seismic field trial programs involving I/O.

Jim Hollis, I/O VP of New Ventures – FireFly, commented, “While both Apache and BP are very excited about their upcoming field trials with FireFly, neither company is accustomed to owning seismic equipment outright. As a result, all parties agreed that we needed an external partner that would own the ten thousand station FireFly system and provide it to the acquisition contractors selected by Apache or BP when needed. Given I/O’s long-standing relationship with SES, we believe that they are well-suited to own the FireFly system and provide the technology under a long-term rental arrangement to both Apache and BP.”

Glen Huscroft, President of SES, stated, “We are delighted to have been chosen by Apache, BP, and I/O as part of this ground-breaking collaboration for land seismic imaging technology. Since we already own and rent VectorSeis sensors and are an ‘Approved Support Partner’ of Input/Output, we are very familiar with I/O equipment. We share a common vision with I/O and these leading oil & gas companies about a coming revolution in land geophysics. Since FireFly will enable high station count, full-wave recording, we expect to see the demand for VectorSeis sensors increase rapidly within the market. Given that our core business is in seismic equipment leasing and rental, we at SES are uniquely suited to own both VectorSeis sensors and the corresponding FireFly field units and to serve as the provider of both baseline and expansion capacity as growth in the full-wave imaging market accelerates.”

The first FireFly field trial is scheduled to begin in October 2006 at BP’s Wamsutter gas field in Wyoming. Under the terms of various agreements among the parties, SES will be making a down payment to I/O on the ten thousand station FireFly system within the next 60 days and is expected to accept delivery of the completed system during the fourth quarter of 2006. SES will then provide the complete FireFly system to both Apache and BP for no less than 360 days (per company) through the first quarter of 2010.

Mr. Huscroft closed by adding, “While our focus is on ensuring that we exceed the expectations of both Apache and BP, the exciting thing about our commercial arrangements is that there are several extended windows through early 2010 in which neither Apache nor BP have committed to acquisition using the system. Under our agreements, SES will be free to rent the system to other oil & gas companies and contractors in these periods. As a result, we expect that not only will Apache, BP, and their working interest owners be exposed to this revolutionary technology, but so too will other E&P firms and acquisition contractors that secure FireFly and VectorSeis from SES as a core part of their future land imaging programs.”

Announced at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) annual meeting in November 2005, FireFly is the latest full-wave seismic recording platform in the I/O portfolio. FireFly combines proven wireless communication, data storage, and power technologies from other industries in a seismic recording system that operates without cables. With its cableless architecture, FireFly delivers dramatic improvements in system weight, operational productivity, and health, safety, and environmental (HSE) performance. Moreover, it supports high station count recording to improve spatial sampling and seismic image quality.

About I/O
I/O is a leading, technology-focused seismic solutions provider. The company provides cutting-edge seismic acquisition equipment, software, and planning and seismic processing services to the global oil and gas industry. I/O's technologies are applied in both land and marine environments, in traditional 2D and 3D surveys, and in rapidly growing areas like time-lapse (4D) reservoir monitoring and full-wave imaging. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, I/O has regional offices in Canada, Latin America, Europe, China, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. Additional information is available at www.i-o.com.

About SES
Seismic Equipment Solutions LP (SES) provides products and services on a global basis in the field of oil and gas exploration, including the rental, lease, lease/purchase, sale, and technical support of new, used, and re-certified instrumentation used in land seismic acquisition. Headquartered in Stafford, Texas (just outside of Houston), SES is an “Approved Support Partner” of Input/Output, Inc. Additional information is available at www.globalses.com.

Contacts: I/O – Houston, Texas
Kelly Smith, Director – Corporate Marketing Communications
+1 281 879 3593 or ksmith@i-o.com

SES – Houston, Texas
Glen Huscroft, President
+1 281 313 9494 or glenh@globalses.com
Paul Mitcham, Managing Director
+1 281 313 9494 or paulm@globalses.com

FireFly™ is a trademark of Input/Output, Inc.

SES to Purchase FireFly Solution from I/O Press Release (PDF) (Word)