Project Profile
Value: US$100-400 million
Location: East Coast Basin, New Zealand
Reserves: Unknown
Area: 965 square kilometres
Start-up Year: -
Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL) through its wholly owned subsidiary, COPL New Zealand Limited (COPL NZ) and with its joint interest partner, Marauder Resources East Coast (NZ) Ltd. (Marauder) has been awarded Petroleum Exploration Permit 53806 in the East Coast Basin offshore New Zealand. The agreement between COPL NZ and Marauder provides for each company to hold a 50% working interest in PEP 53806. COPL NZ is completing the necessary legal and regulatory requirements to be recognized on the license and expects that this will conclude within a matter of days. Marauder will be the operator of PEP 53806 for the first year, after which time COPL NZ will then assume operatorship. The permit covers 965 square kilometres and has an initial term of 5 years.
The East Coast Basin onshore New Zealand contains a number of large oil and gas accumulation targets focusing on unconventional resource plays within the Paleocene to Cretaceous aged Whangai and Waipawa shales. These formations exhibit characteristics similar to the productive Bakken Formation in Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Offsetting permit holders in the basin include Tag Oil and New Zealand Energy, both of which have had independent third party evaluators assign shale oil resource potential of 12.6 and 20.9 Billion Barrels Original Oil In Place respectively. Similarly, COPL NZ plans to commission a third party engineering group to prepare a resource report and economic analysis to estimate the unconventional potential for the license. The Whangai Formation is the primary unconventional target over PEP 53806, and is naturally fractured and widespread throughout the East Coast Basin.
Operators:
Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL): Operator with 50% interest
Marauder Resources East Coast (NZ) Ltd. (Marauder): 50% interest