Succesful Bid For Onshore Taranaki Exploration

L&M Petroleum Succesful In Joint Bid For Onshore Taranaki Exploration Permit

Highlights
• L&M Petroleum and ASX-listed Mosaic Oil awarded Block 5 (PEP51151), onshore Taranaki
• Permit adjacent to proven production (Rimu, Kauri and Manutahi fields)

L&M Petroleum (LMP) today announced that it is continuing to grow its portfolio of exploration opportunities through the successful award of Permit PEP 51151 (Block 5) onshore Taranaki, New Zealand. The 457.8 km2 permit contains a number of previously identified oil and gas leads and is contiguous to Origin-operated Mining Permits that contain the Rimu/Kauri and Manutahi Fields. These fields have produced over 1.2 million barrels of oil and 15 BCF of gas since 1999, with gas from the fields piped into the national high-pressure transmission reticulation system.

The participants in the permit are L&M Petroleum Limited, who will be operator for the joint venture, and Australian based explorer, Mosaic Oil NL. Both parties will hold a 50 percent interest in the permit.

John Bay, LMP’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said, “Acquiring this permit is consistent with our ‘balanced portfolio’ growth strategy of pursuing exploration opportunities targeting a mix of frontier high risk / high reward prospects with prospects located adjacent to producing fields and infrastructure providing the potential for early cash generation.

“As with our recently announced participation with Salinas Energy in targeting exploration prospects within the prolific San Joaquin Basin in California, the award of this new Taranaki Basin permit adds oil and gas prospects in a commercially proven producing basin to our portfolio of frontier South Island prospects and allows us to partner with an experienced and successful exploration company, in this case, Mosaic Oil,” Mr Bay said.

“Taranaki, like California, is a proven basin where any discovery is both more likely to be commercial and is more readily able to be monetised as the necessary infrastructure is already in place. Partnering with Mosaic, an experienced and profitable oil and gas producer, enables both parties to share the cost of exploration and capitalise upon the opportunity this permit provides,” Mr Bay said.

“The addition of this permit means the Company has recently been able to add the proven Taranaki and San Joaquin basins to our Westland and Southland permits in the South Island. Acquiring a permit in Taranaki reinforces L&M’s commitment to exploring in New Zealand and to pursuing conventional petroleum exploration opportunities side-by-side with our coal seam gas exploration programme. With the addition of the California and Taranaki opportunities to our portfolio, along with the recent commencement of an aggressive coal seam gas exploration programme, which has had some initial positive results, the Company has built a diversified portfolio of exploration prospects which will provide us with the opportunity to grow substantially over the next few years,” Mr Bay said.

Following the award of the permit the joint venture will begin undertaking analysis of the existing geological data over the permit and acquire and interpret new seismic data to confirm drilling targets with a view to drilling the first exploration well within two to three years.

ENDS

About L&M Petroleum Limited
L&M Petroleum Limited is incorporated in New Zealand and dual listed on the ASX and NZX on 11 January 2007 after raising AUD$20 million in a fully underwritten Initial Public Offering. The Company is currently carrying out an aggressive conventional exploration programme focused on discovering major oil and gas resources in the South Island of New Zealand, a multi-well drilling campaign to confirm the coal seam gas resources in its onshore permits in the Western Southland Basin and is planning to drill an exploration well in the highly productive San Joaquin Basin in California. L&M Petroleum is the only exploration company in New Zealand pursuing both conventional oil and gas and coal seam gas. The Company is the Operator of all of its New Zealand joint ventures and has equity interests in four permits in the Western Southland Basin, two permits in the onshore Westland Basin and one permit in the onshore Taranaki Basin of New Zealand. The Company is well funded with ca. AUD$9 million in cash available to undertake its work programs.

About Mosaic Oil NL
Mosaic Oil is a successful Australian explorer and producer of oil and gas. Their principal producing assets are based in the Surat and Bowen onshore basins of southeast Queensland. Mosaic also currently participates in one offshore Australian asset, the Santos-operated joint venture on the North West Shelf off Western Australia, and has an interest in the Kimu gas field in Papua New Guinea.

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