Indo-Pacific Energy Awarded Canterbury Basin project.WELLINGTON, New Zealand--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1997--Indo-Pacific Energy Ltd. (OTC OTC See: Over-the-counter. OTC See over-the-counter market (OTC). : INDX INDX Index ) is pleased to announce that the New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. Ministry of Commerce has awarded the company and its partners a Petroleum Exploration Permit covering the onshore Canterbury Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. Petroleum Exploration Permit 38256 covers an area of approximately 2.8 million acres. It encloses virtually all of the prospective parts of the onshore area of the Canterbury Basin, which is situated both onshore and offshore along the east coast of the South Island and covers a total area in excess of 12 million acres. From its early formation, about 100 million years ago and up to about 20 million years ago, the Canterbury Basin had a very similar geological evolution to the Taranaki Basin, the major oil and gas producing area in New Zealand. Consequently, the types of rocks which are the source of so much oil and gas in Taranaki are also present in the Canterbury Basin; and, this potential is further emphasized by various gas seeps in the Canterbury area. In the offshore basin, two out of only four exploration wells drilled have been gas-condensate discoveries, with the Galleon-1 well flowing at a sustained rate in excess of 10 million cubic feet of gas and 2,300 barrels of condensate (light oil) per day. In Indo-Pacific's new onshore area, only five wells have been drilled, between 1914 and 1978, none of which were located on the basis of any modern seismic information. Even so, two out of these five wells also recorded hydrocarbon shows. PEP 38256 covers the Canterbury Plains The Canterbury Plains cover an area bounded by the foothills of the Southern Alps and the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. They are centred to the south of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. , a huge area of low topography created by gravels and other rock debris built out from the Southern Alps Southern Alps, mountain range, on South Island, New Zealand, paralleling the west coast. It rises to 12,349 ft (3,764 m) at Mt. Aorangi (Mt. Cook), New Zealand's highest peak. , the spectacular mountain chain to the west. Geological comparisons can be drawn between the Plains and the coastal area of southern California, west of the San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills. . The Californian coastal basins are incredibly oil rich, with the Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the peninsular and transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs (both in Los Angeles alone holding reserves amounting to 10 billion barrels oil equivalent of oil and gas, within a 1 million acre area. The broad geological similarities between the Canterbury Plains area and the California coastal basins area underpin the exploration concepts within PEP 38256. These similarities have been the subject, over recent years, of several papers by leading academic geologists. For example, Professor Robert Yeats of Oregon State University Oregon State University, at Corvallis; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1858 as Corvallis College, opened 1865. In 1868 it was designated Oregon's land-grant agricultural college and was taken over completely by the state in 1885. , an eminent geologist who has published over the past 30 years many key studies on the Los Angeles Basin and others near the San Andreas Fault San Andreas fault, great fracture (see fault) of the earth's crust in California. It is the principal fault of an intricate network of faults extending more than 600 mi (965 km) from NW California to the Gulf of California. , has also published a detailed geological comparison of these two areas on opposite sides of the Pacific Plate. One may conclude from this study that the area where basins similar to those in the coastal California area may have developed is beneath the Canterbury Plains. This concept is supported by the gravity data and by the limited amount of old seismic data on the Canterbury Plains. The initial exploration effort of Indo-Pacific and its partners is to establish whether sedimentary basins similar to the California coastal basins exist beneath the Plains. This will be done through a combination of gravity modeling magnetotelluric surveys and the reprocessing Reprocessing may refer to:
Should this first phase give encouraging results, Indo-Pacific will acquire new seismic and start to detail drilling prospects in these areas. The Canterbury Plains are very well suited to seismic exploration, with a dense network of roads which allow ready and inexpensive seismic survey access. There is a real and exciting possibility that a new oil and gas province may be established in this huge area, in the years go come. Partners in the PEP 38256 Joint Venture are: Indo-Pacific Energy Ltd., who holds 35 percent and will operate the project; Trans-Orient Petroleum Ltd. with 35 percent; Trans New Zealand Oil Co. holding 20 percent; and Gondwana Energy Ltd. holding the remaining 10 percent interest. In order to retain the license, the participants must meet escalating exploration commitments over a multiyear program. Indo-Pacific Energy Ltd. (www.indopacific.com) is an independent production/exploration company focused exclusively in the Asia-Pacific region. Through its subsidiaries, Indo-Pacific holds over 10 million gross acres of exploration and production concessions in Australia, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (păp`  ə, –y , China, and is the largest holder of onshore exploration acreage in New Zealand. -0- ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS John Holland, P.Eng. Director The information included in this news release comprises both historical and forward-looking information or statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. The company relies on the safe harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. of this act and cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate given that resource exploration activity is inherently a high-risk business. CONTACT: IREMCO Alex P. Guidi, 604/682-6496 |
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