VANCOUVER, Nov. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - TAG Oil Ltd. (the
"Company") (TSX: TAO) and (OTCQX: TAOIF), reports that new wells in
the Company's drilling program underway in the Taranaki Basin of
New Zealand are showing
encouraging results. These wells are part of an extensive
New Zealand drilling campaign
targeting significant hydrocarbon potential in lower risk shallow
oil prospects and deeper high-impact gas-condensate prospects in
the Taranaki Basin, and unconventional prospects in the East Coast
Basin targeting naturally fractured source rocks.
Petroleum Mining Permit 38156 - Cardiff-3 (TAG 100%)
The deep Cardiff-3 well targeting the Eocene-aged
Kapuni Formation is drilling ahead at approximately 4,113 meters
after some delays due to the well encountering a high-permeability,
hydrocarbon-bearing zone in the McKee Sands, at approximately 4,100
meters depth.
After drilling through the McKee Sands and into
the second target zone, the K1A zone, TAG has encountered
additional encouraging gas kicks of up to 20 times background
levels. The Company expects to drill through the remainder of
the main Kapuni Formation target zones in November and, at that
time, will make a decision whether to complete and production test
the well, if supported by data acquired as expected.
For further information regarding TAG Oil's deep drilling
program please visit:
http://www.tagoil.com/20130917-TAG-Oil-Deep-Drilling-Targets-Large-Onshore-Gas-Condensate-Resource-Taranaki.asp.
Petroleum Exploration Permit 54877 - Cheal-E Site (TAG
70%)
TAG continues to drill step out locations in the
Cheal area. Wells recently drilled from the Cheal North East site
have now significantly extended the known oil and gas saturated
area from the initial Cheal pool discovery.
TAG recently completed the third of five
consecutive wells to be drilled within Petroleum Exploration Permit
54877: Cheal-E1, E2 and E3 wells have all encountered oil-and-gas
bearing sands in the Urenui and/or Mt. Messenger Formations. These
wells have now been completed in preparation for production
testing, which we anticipate will commence in a few days' time.
To ensure more reliable long-term production
forecasting on future wells in this emerging play, the Cheal-E1, E2
and E3 wells will be initially rotated, so that each well will be
individually tested for approximately 15 days, and then shut-in
temporarily to conduct pressure and temperature analysis. Following
this initial test period, all wells will then be placed into
permanent production.
Based on these encouraging results in the
Cheal-E site, TAG will now drill the Cheal-E4 and E5 wells,
followed shortly by three new step out wells in Petroleum
Exploration Permit 54879 (Cheal
South, TAG 50%) with joint venture partner East West
Petroleum Corp.
TAG Oil CEO, Garth
Johnson commented, "I would like to thank our team for their
continuing hard work and dedication to a very busy operational
program that has been conducted to date without compromising
safety. Not only are we seeing some very encouraging results via
the drill bit at Cardiff and at
our Cheal-E site, our team has managed to simultaneously build a
cost-effective permanent production facility at the Cheal-E site
that has the capability to test and place successful wells into
permanent production, at a fraction of the time normally
experienced. We're excited with the program we have underway, TAG's
most active ever, and results to date have us looking forward to
establishing new production and reserves in New Zealand for many years to come."
For further information regarding TAG Oil's production and
drilling program please visit:
http://www.tagoil.com/20130814-TAG-Oil-Reports-Strong-Q12014-Financials.asp
TAG Oil Ltd.
TAG Oil Ltd. (http://www.tagoil.com/) is a
Canadian-based production and exploration company with operations
focused exclusively in New
Zealand. With 100% ownership over all its core assets,
including extensive oil and gas production infrastructure, TAG is
enjoying significant organic value creation through development and
appraisal drilling of several light oil and gas discoveries and
through prospect generation across an extensive acreage position.
As New Zealand's leading explorer,
TAG actively drills high-impact conventional and unconventional
exploration prospects identified in the Taranaki Basin, East Coast
Basin and Canterbury Basin that
covers more than 2,669,780 net acres of land, prospective for major
discovery in New Zealand.
The resource estimates in this news release were prepared with
an effective date of July 31, 2013.
The estimates for Cardiff have
been externally prepared by Sproule International Limited and the
remaining estimates were prepared internally by TAG professionals,
both of which are qualified reserves evaluators in accordance with
NI 51-101 and the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluations Handbook.
Prospective resources are defined as those
quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be
potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by
application of future development projects. Prospective
resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance
of development.
Exploration for hydrocarbons is a speculative
venture necessarily involving substantial risk. TAG's future
success in exploiting and increasing its current reserve base will
depend on its ability to develop its current properties and on its
ability to discover and acquire properties or prospects that are
capable of commercial production. However, there is no assurance
that TAG's future exploration and development efforts will result
in the discovery or development of additional commercial
accumulations of oil and natural gas. In addition, even if further
hydrocarbons are discovered, the costs of extracting and delivering
the hydrocarbons to market and variations in the market price may
render uneconomic any discovered deposit. Geological
conditions are variable and unpredictable. Even if production is
commenced from a well, the quantity of hydrocarbons produced
inevitably will decline over time, and production may be adversely
affected or may have to be terminated altogether if TAG encounters
unforeseen geological conditions. TAG is subject to uncertainties
related to the proximity of any reserves that it may discover to
pipelines and processing facilities. It expects that its
operational costs will increase proportionally to the remoteness
of, and any restrictions on access to, the properties on which any
such reserves may be found. Adverse climatic conditions at such
properties may also hinder TAG's ability to carry on exploration or
production activities continuously throughout any given year.
The significant positive factors that are
relevant to the resource estimate are:
- Proven production in close proximity;
- Proven commercial quality reservoirs in close proximity;
and
- Oil and gas shows while drilling wells nearby.
The significant negative factors that are
relevant to the resource estimate are:
- Tectonically complex geology could compromise seal potential;
and
- Seismic attribute mapping in the two, deep, liquids'-rich gas
plays can be indicative but not certain in identifying proven
resource.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements:
Statements contained in this news release that
are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that
involve various risks and uncertainty affecting the business of
TAG. Such statements can be generally, but not always, identified
by words such as "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "intends",
"estimates", "forecasts", "schedules", "prepares", "potential" and
similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would",
"may", "could" or "should" occur. All estimates and statements that
describe the Company's objectives, goals, production rates,
optimization, infrastructure capacity and or future plans with
respect to the drilling in the Taranaki Basin are forward-looking
statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve
risks and uncertainties including, without limitation: risks
associated with oil and gas exploration, development, exploitation
and production, geological risks, marketing and transportation, the
risk associated with estimating undiscovered original
initially-in-place described above, availability of adequate
funding, volatility of commodity prices, imprecision of reserve
estimates, environmental risks, competition from other producers,
and changes in the regulatory and taxation environment. Actual
results may vary materially from the information provided in this
release, and there is no representation by TAG Oil that the actual
results realized in the future will be the same in whole or in part
as those presented herein.
Other factors that could cause actual results to
differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements are
also set forth in filings that TAG and its independent evaluator
have made, including TAG's most recently filed reports in
Canada under NI 51-101, which can
be found under TAG's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
TAG undertakes no obligation, except as otherwise required by
law, to update these forward-looking statements in the event that
management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors
change.
SOURCE TAG Oil Ltd.
