As part of the 2013 New Zealand block offer, New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals has awarded East West a 40% interest and TAG Oil as operator with a 60% interest in the petroleum exploration permit.
The company plans to fund the initial 12-month work programme that comprises reprocessing of available seismic data.
East West intends to fund the acquisition of 60 km’s of new 2D seismic and one unconventional well drilled to about 2,500m by April 2017, to maintain its 40% interest in the permit.
East West Petroleum president and CEO David Sidoo said the company is excited for TAG and East West to be awarded the new acreage in the 2013 New Zealand block offer.
"This expansion into the East Coast Basin with a proven operator like TAG will provide East West with high impact exploration potential in New Zealand," Sidoo added.
East West said that the basin is a lightly explored and Cretaceous-Cenozoic age fore-arc basin.
According to the company, the basin is expected to include numerous oil and gas seeps that holds potential for significant discoveries of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons.
The initial studies have indicated that the sources rocks in the basin can be comparable to proven unconventional plays, such as the Bakken in North America.
The company holds stake in three exploration permits near to existing commercial production in the Taranaki basin with a nine well drilling campaign, operated by TAG Oil, in New Zealand.
Image: PEP 55770 in East Coast basin. Photo: Courtesy of East West Petroleum.
