TAG Oil reported the initial flow testing of the Sidewinder-4 discovery well, the third of four Sidewinder wells to be tested, is now complete. The Sidewinder oil and gas discovery is located in TAG Oil's Petroleum Exploration Permit 38748 in the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand.

The Sidewinder-4 exploration well was drilled to a depth of 1,410 meters (4,626 feet), targeting a fault bounded 3-D anomaly identified in the Mt. Messenger Formation. The well was drilled down-dip of Sidewinder-3 and encountered 19 meters of net oil-and-gas-charged sandstones, with no water column evident. A 4-Point Isochronal test achieved stabilized flow rates of 6.98 million cubic feet per day (~1163 BOE per day) with a 25% drawdown.

Flow testing of the Sidewinder-2 discovery is currently underway. This well encountered the largest net pay of all Sidewinder wells to date, with 47 meters of oil-and-gas bearing sandstones. Five separate zones will be tested, including new zones both above and below the primary Sidewinder discovery zone.

Tags: TAG Oil Ltd.