Austral Pacific Cheal-B Facilities Completed Ahead of Schedule

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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nWELLINGTON, New Zealand, Dec. 10 /CNW/ -- Austral Pacific Energy Ltd.\n(TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX; Amex: AEN) - Tag Oil Ltd (TSX-V: TAO; OTC Bulletin\nBoard: TAGOF)\n\n\nAustral Pacific Energy Ltd. announced today that the tie in of the B1, B2\nand B3 wells into the Cheal Production Station has been completed on budget\nand ahead of schedule. The wells, pipeline and production facility are now\nmechanically complete; all regulatory approvals have been achieved and the\nfacility has been handed over for commissioning ready to produce oil and gas.\nThe project has had an excellent safety record with no lost time incidents or\nnear misses.\n\n\nThe wells were shut-in as part of the planned, phased installation of the\npermanent connections to the production facility. They will be brought back\non-line in a managed manner and are planned to increase total Cheal oil\nproduction to approximately 700 barrels of oil per day by end 2007.\n\n\nCommenting on this achievement, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and\nPresident Thompson Jewell said, "We are extremely pleased to be able to\ndeliver this project ahead of schedule and be able to preserve our excellent\nsafety record. This project again reflects on the planning, management and\ndelivery skills of the team involved, both at Austral and our project\ncontractors. We will now focus on bringing all of the wells up to their\nplanned production rates, and executing the next phase of the field\ndevelopment plan."\n\n\nCheal is a producing oil and gas field south of Stratford in onshore\nTaranaki, New Zealand. It is 69.5% owned by Austral, which is also field\noperator. The field comprises four active wells and contains 2.6 MMbbl of\nindependently certified oil reserves (2P) and around 1.8 bcf of associated\ngas. Austral has put in place all relevant oil, gas and LPG sales contracts\nfor the Cheal output.\n\n\nAustral Pacific is a listed independent oil and gas exploration and\nproduction company registered in Canada with corporate headquarters in\nWellington, New Zealand. The Company has an interest in thirteen exploration\nand production permits totaling over 2.6 million acres in onshore New Zealand\nand Papua New Guinea. The Company's primary assets are the Cheal Field, Kahili\nField and Cardiff Field located onshore in the highly prolific Taranaki Basin\non the North ...

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