HOUSTON - June 7, 2004 - An acceptance of Web-based technologies is dramatically improving the bottom line of petroleum companies and boosting the growth of The Information Store (iStore), which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.

When iStore launched in 1994, companies were just beginning to understand the power of the Internet. A decade later, iStore has survived the rise and fall of the dot-com industry and continues to help petroleum exploration and production (E&P) companies improve returns on their oil and gas assets.

“Our longevity proves that Web-enabled sharing of data across a petroleum company truly works,” said Barry Irani, president and chief executive officer at iStore. “People working in the petroleum industry must have timely and easy access to large amounts of data if they are to make the best decisions about their oil and gas wells and fields. And our PetroTrek technology puts the information they need - as well as tools to help them interpret the information - right at their fingertips.”

iStore's PetroTrek software suite provides a robust framework for accessing, analyzing, reporting and distributing mission-critical exploration, production and financial information. iStore does not move data to a new storage location. Instead, data is retrieved on-the-fly from wherever it currently resides. This approach leverages existing IT investment and infrastructure, eliminating the need for additional investments in IT resources.

For example, one major oil company  was merging with another. The company faced personnel shuffles and various office closings and openings. As a result, one of the company's business units lost timely access to crucial data needed for continuing ongoing operations. iStore came in with its Web-based PetroTrek software, which gave immediate online access to the data. It allowed the company to disseminate the information -- including drilling reports and production data -- both internally and to partners. Rather than spending time learning, training and working on disparate databases and software tools, engineers were able to perform between 80 percent and 90 percent of their daily production-oriented tasks online. Data integrity increased and reporting time decreased.

“We launched iStore the same year that The Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVIII,” said Irani, “and the Internet was still a novelty, with about 38 million users worldwide. Today, there are about 740 million. I'm proud to say that our early vision for what oil and gas companies required 10 years ago from a software solution has continued to meet and exceed expectations, even today.”

The Information Store, based in Houston, helps petroleum companies access exploration and production (E&P) data wherever they reside and present them in a useful and familiar form. As a result, customers improve asset performance, reduce cycle time and maximize return on investment. iStore's software solutions deliver E&P information that asset management teams need to make  informed technical and business decisions. Founded in 1994, the privately held company has offices in Houston, Canada and Mexico.