News release on new exploration license and drilling of new well.
Indo-Pacific Gains PNG Exploration License. Drilling to Begin in New Zealand.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Energy Ltd. (OTC Bulletin Board: INDX - news) is pleased to announce that the consortium it leads has been awarded a new exploration license, PPL 215, in the highly successful Papuan Basin. Indo-Pacific, as the operator of the new license, holds a 40% interest. Other interest holders are Trans-Orient Petroleum (OTC Bulletin Board: TEPUF - news), an associated IREMCO company with 40%, and Mosaic Oil of Australia with 20%.
The PPL 215 license area is approximately 600,000 acres, in a lightly explored and strategically situated area of the Papuan Basin Foreland adjoining the Company's 1.2 million acre PPL 192 license. Several recent drilling results in offsetting acreage have shown there is good potential for entrapment of both oil and gas in the area.
Of particular interest is the Koko-1 well, which recovered oil to surface, and the Kimu-1 and Stanley-1 wells which are both significant gas discoveries. Both PPL 215 and PPL 192 are considered to be optimally situated in an area where excellent reservoir quality in the Toro Sandstone Formation, the main producing formation in the basin, can be anticipated.
Several large exploration leads have been noted in PPL 215 on seismic, and Indo-Pacific intends to follow up on those areas with a view to establishing drilling prospects. In PPL 192, two drill targets have been identified, the Kamu and Douglas Prospects both with discovery potential in the 100 million barrel range.
Papua New Guinea is characterized by a number of outstanding features that make it a premier location for oil and gas exploration, including high discovery rates, the high flow rates achieved by discovery wells, and the high quality of crude oil produced. Together, these factors have ensured high operating profitability in the presently producing oil fields, even at current suppressed oil prices.
In addition, the efforts of the Chevron and Exxon/Mobil consortia to develop Papua New Guinea's huge gas reserves should provide additional impetus to investigate this still lightly explored but world-class frontier area.
Click below to view PPL 215 map.
indopacific.com
INDO-PACIFIC'S NEXT WELL
The drilling rig is now in place on the Huinga-1 site in New Zealand's Taranaki Basin, and will commence drilling in the next few days.
The Huinga-1 well will test several target horizons in the Crown Prospect, a feature geologically similar to the adjacent and highly profitable Waihapa/Ngaere Oil Field, home of some of the most profitable onshore oil wells in the world. The Huinga-1 well has the potential to discover several tens of millions of barrels of oil and several hundred billion cubic feet of gas.
Click below to view Huinga-1 map.
indopacific.com
Further information is available at www.indopacific.com or by contacting Mr. Gary Saik, Investor Relations Officer, at 415-951-1917 or email: gs@indopacific.com.
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