VANCOUVER, Oct. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - TAG Oil Ltd. (TSX:
TAO) and (OTCQX: TAOIF), announces that unconventional oil and gas
specialists Stephen L. Dutnell, P.E. and David B. Cornue P.G., C.H.M.M., have joined the
Company's operational team on a long-term contract basis. Mr.
Dutnell and Mr. Cornue will be based in TAG's newly established
operational base in the city of Napier on the East Coast of
New Zealand's North Island.
TAG is pursuing the major unconventional
resource potential that has been demonstrated by TAG's extensive
geotechnical studies and the results of the Ngapaeruru-1 well,
drilled in spring, which intersected 155 meters of unconventional
oil-and-gas pay in the source rock. The addition of Mr. Dutnell and
Mr. Cornue to the Company's operational team, and TAG's newly
established East Coast office, will facilitate TAG's expanding
operational plans and drilling activity, with a goal of
establishing the East Coast Basin's first unconventional oil and
gas production.
Both Mr. Dutnell and Mr. Cornue are highly
respected senior petroleum and environmental experts, with
extensive experience in all facets of unconventional oil and gas
exploration and development. Their collective 57 years of petroleum
experience includes work in many unconventional oil and gas
developments in the United States,
including the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Marcellus and Utica Shale
plays.
David B. Cornue
Mr. Cornue obtained his Master of Science degree
from State University of New York,
Stony Brook, and his BA in Geology from the University of Maine. He has managed, performed, or
contributed to numerous unconventional oil and gas projects,
including the preparation of several environmental manuals specific
to oil and gas development prepared for the Department of Energy,
National Energy Technology Laboratory, and also the Interstate Oil
and Gas Compact Commission. Since 2009 he has represented the
Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York in preparing and presenting their
formal commentary regarding new regulations applicable to
unconventional development. And in February
2012, he was instrumental in a report prepared for the New
Zealand Ministry of Economic Development and the Institute of
Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited (GNS Science) for onshore
unconventional exploration in New
Zealand.
Stephen L. Dutnell
Mr. Dutnell has more than 25 years of petroleum
related experience. He obtained his B.S. Petroleum Engineering from
the University of Louisiana - Lafayette
in 1983, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of
Oklahoma, New York, and Ohio. Most recently, Mr. Dutnell has provided
technical support in the permitting of over 100 vertical and
horizontal oil and gas wells drilled or to be drilled in the
Utica and Marcellus Shale unconventional plays in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and
the state of Ohio.
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 and 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.
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. These statements are based on
certain factors and assumptions including all estimates and
statements that describe the Company's objectives, goals,
production rates, optimization, infrastructure capacity and or
future plans relating to the drilling programs in the East Coast
Basins 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, volatility of commodity prices, imprecision of
reserve estimates and production guidance, environmental risks,
competition from other producers, and changes in the regulatory and
taxation environment. These forward-looking statements are based on
certain factors and assumptions, including factors and assumptions
regarding the management's views on the oil and gas potential in
TAG's permits, well performance and production rates, the success
of any operations, completing infrastructure and the costs
necessary to complete the operations.
TAG Oil is involved in the exploration for and
production of hydrocarbons, and its property holdings with the
exception of the Cheal and Sidewinder project areas are in the
grass roots or primary exploration stage. Exploration for
hydrocarbons is a speculative venture necessarily involving
substantial risk. There is no certainty that the expenditures
incurred on TAG Oil's exploration properties will result in
discoveries of commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. TAG Oil's
future success in exploiting and increasing its current reserve
base will depend on TAG Oil's ability to develop its current
properties and on its ability to discover and acquire properties or
prospects that are producing. There is no assurance that TAG Oil's
future exploration and development efforts will result in the
discovery or development of additional commercial accumulations of
oil and natural gas.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.