Tag Oil Gets Fracking Go Ahead in Taranaki

Tag Oil has received the green signal from Taranaki Regional Council to perform fracture stimulation on the Cardiff-3 well located in Petroleum Mining License 38156 in New Zealand's Taranaki Basin, should drilling results call for it.

Cardiff-3 was spudded on September 2, 2013 and is presently drilling ahead, on-time and on-budget at a depth of 3,918 meters, the company said.

“It will take approx. 14 more days to reach its total projected depth of 4,900 meters, at which time, a decision will be made whether to complete the well. Economic factors for completion, which would likely include a hydraulic-fracture stimulation, will consider total meters of net gas pay, indicative in situ permeability, and the interpreted volume of original gas in place that could be accessed with this well bore,” Tag Oil said in a statement.

It is anticipated that in the event of a success at Cardiff-3, three wells would be needed to fully develop prospective resources estimated at 160 BCF and 5.49 million barrels of condensate on a P50 basis.

Cardiff-3 is the first of three back-to-back deep wells being drilled 100% by Tag Oil, all targeting Taranaki's successful deep Kapuni Formation. Tag's 'mid case' (P50) prospective resources of the three deep Kapuni prospects total 476 BCF of natural gas and 18 million barrels of condensate.

Cardiff structure is situated on trend and among several sizable deep gas/condensate discoveries in New Zealand's Taranaki Basin, including the nearby landmark Kapuni Field, New Zealand's first major onshore discovery, and the prolific Mangahewa and Pohokura gas fields.