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Unconventional Oil

oil-rich Waipawa source rock formation
Outcrop of oil-rich Waipawa source-rock formation.

Major Tight Oil Resource Prospect

TAG Oil's East Coast Basin acreage encompasses the primary play areas where both the Waipawa and Whangai source rocks are widespread, thickly developed and mature. These oil- and gas-rich formations are present throughout most of the Company's million-acre land holding, and are comparable in total organic carbon content and oil and gas maturity levels to such successful tight oil and gas plays as the Bakken of North America's prolific Williston Basin and the Barnett in East Texas. In addition, measured primary porosities in both the Waipawa and Whangai formations are favorably in the 22-30% range, well above what is typically found in the Bakken or Barnett.

Together, these formations have always been viewed as rich, high-quality source rock, though they were never considered to be producible until the success of the Barnett. Extraction success there, where reserves are estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to be in excess of 25-trillion cubic feet, has provided a model for successful tight oil and gas exploration throughout the world with major new reserves established. Continuing developments in responsible drilling capabilities and completion technology support TAG Oil's strategy for unlocking major reserves in these source rocks.

A New Era of Exploration Success, Driven by Advanced Technology
As conventional hydrocarbon reserves continue to decline, experts estimate that up to 70% of the world's future reserves will be sourced from unconventional oil and gas resources such as the tight oil and gas source rocks found in TAG's permit areas. Wood Mackenzie conservatively estimates that 3.6 trillion barrels of unconventional, undeveloped oil equivalent exist in formations that were once thought to be unproducible – triple the 1.2 trillion barrels of conventional oil considered recoverable from conventional oil reserves.