Press Release

SEG Advanced Modeling Corporation announces Simulation Award

Tulsa, February 10, 2009: The SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Corporation announced today that the Phase I simulation contract has been awarded to Tierra Geophysical LLC for computation of an acoustic variable-density seismic dataset. This geophysical dataset will lead to reduced risk in sub-salt oil exploration and development projects around the world. Results will be delivered to participating companies by year-end.

"This is an important milestone for the SEAM Phase I Project, as this is the first of many planned simulations of geophysical data sets relevant to the challenges faced by industry today’¡É said Arthur Cheng, SEAM Board Chair. "The 24 participating companies in SEAM Phase I came together in 2007 to share expertise and develop a sub-salt geophysical simulation better and larger than each could do individually. The simulation technology required is on the leading edge of what is possible today. We are pleased to announce the selection of Tierra to acquire over 60,000 full-azimuth shot records over the SEAM Phase I geological model, a highly detailed representation of a 40 km x 35 km area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico sub-salt petroleum exploration play."

Christof Stork, founder and Chief Scientist of Tierra, commented on today's announcement: "Tierra is a new company built on the conviction that large-scale forward modeling can significantly reduce risk in the exploration and development projects faced by industry today. Modeling can optimize acquisition, processing, and interpretation for subtle features. We have been impressed by the foresight of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) in establishing the SEAM Corporation, and view the broad industry participation in SEAM Phase I as confirmation of our belief in the critical importance of modeling. The SEAM quality standards are challenging and we are thrilled to have been selected."

The datasets and additional datasets to follow will be used for research and development of enhanced algorithms for seismic processing and imaging; and for designing novel acquisition schemes for future 3D surveys in sub-salt arenas of the world including the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, offshore Brazil, the Red Sea, and the Caspian Sea. SEAM Corporation will make these datasets freely available to universities for research and education purposes and to industry in general after an initial two years of proprietary usage by the participating companies.

About SEAM: The SEG Advanced Modeling Corporation mission is to advance the science and technology of applied geophysics though cooperative industry efforts focused on subsurface model construction and generation of geophysical datasets for geophysical problems of importance to the resource-extraction industry. SEAM provides opportunities for companies to share the high cost of model design and data simulation, provides a forum for industry leaders to discuss geophysical problems of common interest, advances the art of modeling and computation by stimulating research and development, and provides datasets for industry benchmarks and educational purposes. The SEAM Phase I project currently has 24 Participating Companies. SEAM Corporation was formed in 2007 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. For more information about SEAM Corporation and the SEAM Phase I project see www.seg.org/SEAM.

About Tierra: Tierra Geophysical, LLC, was founded in 2006 for the purpose of specialized implementations of computationally intensive high-opportunity geophysical algorithms. The finite difference modeling algorithm accepted by SEAM is Tierra's first product. For more information about Tierra Geophysical see www.tierrageo.com.

Contacts:

SEAM
Director Geophysics
Peter Pangman
ppangman@seg.org
Tel: 1+918 497 5518

Tierra Geophysical
President
Dave Diller
ddiller@tierrageo.com