ION Geophysical Corporation announced Tuesday that its GX Technology (GXT) Imaging Solutions group has been awarded a multi-year seismic data processing contract by Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) Unlimited, operator of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/MPN joint Venture. The contract, the largest data processing award in ION's history, specifies that GXT and its long standing Nigerian partner - Bulwark Services Limited will provide advanced imaging services for a series of 2C and 4C seabed seismic surveys that will be acquired over the next several years over producing fields offshore Nigeria.

Nick Bernitsas, Senior Vice President of ION's GXT Imaging Solutions group, commented, "We are pleased to have been awarded this significant contract by one of our most important clients. Over the next several years, we will be applying our latest proprietary processing technologies, integrating insights from our experience with full-wave (4C) seismic data and from our experience in West Africa. This is the latest in a series of successful ION projects offshore West Africa. Our BasinSPAN programs along the West African Margin have given us insights into the region's petroleum systems, while our reprocessing projects for West African operators have given us experience in how to apply some of the latest data processing techniques in this important hydrocarbon province. We hope to leverage these experiences and insights on this upcoming series of surveys".

The data is being acquired by the multi-component OBC (ocean-bottom-cable) specialist Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA (RXT) under a separate contract using ION's VectorSeis Ocean (VSO) acquisition platform. VSO is a re-deployable seabed seismic system that records broadband, high fidelity seismic data which can be processed into subsurface images of the highest quality and utility.

ION's GXT Imaging Solutions group and Bulwark Services will apply state-of-the art processing techniques, including converted wave imaging, to the acquired 2C and 4C- data. Lucky Awobasivwe, Managing Director of Bulwark Services Ltd, added, "This award marks major milestones in both our collaboration with GXT and for the West African E & P industry. Our GXT partnership exposes us to the latest imaging techniques and provides local geoscientists with access to the tools and expertise they require to take on the most challenging geophysical projects in West Africa. I would like to thank ION for their ongoing commitment to Bulwark and to the African oil & gas industry, as well as our client for this project award. I look forward to exceeding their expectations on the imaging projects we will be undertaking". Bulwark Services Limited is a specialized and a leading geoscience company that provides a range of services to the oil and gas industry for exploration, development and production projects.