TAG Oil Announces Continued Exploration Success with Two New
Sidewinder Wells; Senior Executive Randy Toone Appointed
VANCOUVER, March 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - TAG Oil Ltd. (TSX:
TAO) and (OTCQX:
TAOIF), is pleased to report that the Company has continued its
exploration success in the 100% owned Sidewinder oil and gas
field
(Petroleum Mining Permit 53803) with the drilling and completion of
the
Sidewinder-A5 and Sidewinder-A6 step-out wells.
Consistent with the original four Sidewinder discovery wells
drilled in
the field to date, both wells encountered similar quality
reservoir
sands within the Mt. Messenger Formation at ~2000 meter
depth.
New phase of oil and gas exploration drilling initiated at
Sidewinder.
This new phase of oil and gas exploration drilling has been
initiated
22-months after the initial Sidewinder discovery, infrastructure
build
and successful 4-well drilling program. TAG is now drilling the
Sidewinder-A7 step-out with Sidewinder-A8 to follow. Based on
drilling
results to date, including permit-wide 2D and 3D seismic data,
TAG
believes that the Sidewinder permit has excellent future
exploration
potential and plans to pursue opportunities in both the shallow
and
more importantly the high impact Kapuni Formation
prospects.
"We're happy to be back drilling at Sidewinder," commented
Drew
Cadenhead, TAG Oil's Chief Operating Officer. "We've picked
up right
where we left off with our fifth and sixth successful wells at
Sidewinder. Continuing with this year's 13-well Taranaki
drilling
campaign, Sidewinder-A7 has now been spudded with Sidewinder-A8
to
follow. We have now tied in Sidewinder-A5 and A6 to a flare tank
for
clean-up, followed by immediate tie-in to the Sidewinder
Production
Station for ongoing production. These Sidewinder oil and gas
discoveries follow on from the original discovery wells drilled in
2010
and 2011, with the Sidewinder-A1, A2, A3 and A4 wells completed
as
shallow gas wells with associated light oil production. TAG
will
continue exploration drilling over the coming years within the
Sidewinder permit, focusing on both the shallow and deep oil and
gas
exploration potential."
For further information on TAG's 13-well drill program, please
visit:
http://www.tagoil.com/20130123-TAG-Oil-13-Well-Taranaki-Basin-Drilling-Campaign.asp
Potential for additional discoveries within the Sidewinder
permit area.
Sidewinder is a new field discovery situated in the main
Taranaki
production fairway and is just lightly explored. To date, TAG has
been
drilling the lowest risk shallow Mt. Messenger (~2000m) prospects
in an
initial effort to minimize financial risk, build near term reserves
and
leverage new infrastructure before drilling the high-impact
prospects
in the Kapuni Formation (~4000m). This prolific formation is where
most
of New Zealand's large fields have
been discovered and will become a
focus for TAG.
"Given the positive results of these recent wells, we continue to
be
optimistic for further discoveries within the Sidewinder permit
area."
TAG CEO, Garth Johnson commented.
"We have had excellent success with
our shallow Taranaki drilling program thus far and will continue
to
exploit and develop this important play but our forward
drilling
strategy will include wells into higher impact opportunities.
TAG's
operating cash flow is estimated to grow substantially in
April 2013
and combined with approximately $70
million in working capital and no
debt, we are in a position to now fund financially riskier
opportunities."
TAG Appoints Senior Oil and Gas Executive to New Zealand to Lead
Development & Build Natural Gas Business
TAG Oil Ltd. is also pleased to announce that Canadian oil and
gas
executive, Mr. Randy Toone, P. Eng.
will be joining TAG as it's New
Zealand Country Manager, and will be based in New Plymouth,
New
Zealand. Randy brings significant operations and energy
related
expertise and will help TAG leverage it's strong position, and
execute
it's business plan which includes building the Company's natural
gas
businesses.
TAG is pleased to have attracted a high calibre executive such as
Randy
to help build TAG in New Zealand.
He has a deep understanding of the
industry and has proven himself as a leader. Over the past ten
years,
Randy was a senior executive with AltaGas Ltd. (TSX: ALA), a
leading
Canadian energy infrastructure company based in Calgary Alberta. He was
originally hired as Operations Manager in 2003 and progressed
through
to senior executive positions of President, Gas Division and
finally as
President, Utilities. Prior to AltaGas, Randy has held
leadership
positions with Williams Energy Canada, Petro-Canada Oil and Gas
and
with Husky Oil Operations.
TAG has granted a total of 150,000 incentive stock options to Mr.
Toone.
These options are exercisable until February
26, 2018, at a price of
$5.00 per share, subject to certain
vesting provisions.
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 substantial oil and gas production and reserve
growth
through development of several light oil and gas discoveries. TAG
is
also actively drilling high-impact exploration prospects
identified
across more than 2,984,171 net acres of land in New Zealand.
In the East Coast Basin, TAG will explore and potentially develop
the
major unconventional resource potential believed to exist in the
tight
oil source-rock formations that are widespread over the
Company's
acreage. These oil-rich and naturally fractured formations have
many
similarities to North America's
Bakken source-rock formation in the
successful Williston Basin.
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 or future plans relating to operations at Sidewinder and
generally 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, production,
marketing
and transportation, undiscovered original oil in place,
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 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 National Instrument
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.