Canadian oil and gas explorer Trans-Orient Petroleum has announced that samples from the Waipawa-Whangai shale play in its onshore East Coast Basin project in New Zealand have returned porosites in the range of 22-30%.
The company said that international oil services company Core Laboratories had analyzed a number of core plugs from the Waipawa and Whangai fractured shale formations samples and found that porosite density exceeded those typically measured in fractured shale plays such as the Barnett and Bakken shales in North America.
Trans-Orient noted that hydrocarbon evaluation firm Sproule International had recently completed an independent assessment covering the conventional exploration prospects in the East Coast Basin.
The report estimated the mid-range undiscovered resource potential on the company’s prospects in its East Coast permit areas at approximately 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place.
Dave Bennett, executive chairman of Trans-Orient, said: We are encouraged to see such high porosities, with measured permeabilities in the range of other successful fractured shale plays. These positive results can only enhance our ability to successfully and economically produce oil and gas from this major unconventional resource.