Mitcham Industries Announces Purchase of 3000 Channels of Sercel Cable-free UNITE Technology

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mitcham Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIND) (the "Company") today announced that it has agreed to purchase 3000 channels of Sercel's UNITE cable-free land acquisition system.  The 3,000-channel order follows a previous purchase by Mitcham Industries of 7,500 channels last September, which have already been deployed on several seismic survey projects across the United States.

UNITE addresses growing industry demands for high-quality, large-channel-count seismic surveys in challenging environments by providing total flexibility in layout and telemetry modes including integrated operations with Sercel's flagship 428XL acquisition system.  With an installed base of over 33,000 channels, UNITE is quickly becoming the cable-free acquisition system of choice.

Bill Mitcham, Mitcham's President and CEO, stated, "UNITE has been an important addition to our lease pool and has been well received from a number of customers.  We are seeing increasing demand for this product, both in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.  We believe the ability of UNITE to integrate seamlessly with Sercel's latest 428XL systems provides a significant benefit over other cable-free systems."

Pascal Rouiller, Sercel's CEO, said, "We are pleased to continue our partnership with Mitcham Industries.  This repeat order of the UNITE system confirms Sercel's success in addressing the US cable-free market. UNITE's high-speed long-range wireless and data harvesting capabilities offer seismic crews more flexibility, greater efficiency and increased productivity."

Mitcham Industries, Inc., a geophysical equipment supplier, offers for lease or sale, new and "experienced" seismic equipment to the oil and gas industry, seismic contractors, environmental agencies, government agencies and universities. Headquartered in Texas, with sales and services offices in Calgary, Canada; Brisbane, Australia; Singapore; Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia; Lima, Peru; Bogota, Colombia and the United Kingdom and with associates throughout Europe, South America and Asia, Mitcham conducts operations on a global scale and is the largest independent exploration equipment lessor in the industry.

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts included herein, including statements regarding the Company's future financial position and results of operations, planned capital expenditures, the Company's business strategy and other plans for future expansion, the future mix of revenues and business, future demand for the Company's services and general conditions in the energy industry in general and seismic service industry, are forward-looking statements. While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable when and as made, actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include possible decline in demand for seismic data and our services; the effect of  fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices on exploration activity; the effect of uncertainty in financial markets on our customers' and our ability to obtain financing; loss of significant customers; seasonal fluctuations that can adversely affect our business; defaults by customers on amounts due us; possible impairment of long-lived assets; risks associated with our manufacturing  operations; inability to obtain funding or to obtain funding under acceptable terms; intellectual property claims by third parties; risks associated with our foreign operation, including foreign currency exchange risk; and other factors that are disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, which are available from the Company without charge. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this release and the Company undertakes no duty to update or revise any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Mitcham Industries, Inc.