New Zealand To Participate In Chinook Tunisia Offshore Block

To acquire 40% WI in 440-square-kilometer Cosmos concession offshore Tunisia in Gulf of Hammamet, gaining 6.3 MMBO 2P.

New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd., Wellington, New Zealand, (Australia, New Zealand: NZO) plans to acquire a 40% working interest in the Cosmos concession offshore Tunisia from Chinook Energy Inc., Calgary, (Toronto: CKE) for US$3 million.

New Zealand Oil will participate at 40% and pay the first US$19 million of Chinook's development costs.

Chinook retains operatorship and a 40% working interest and the Tunisian national oil company, Enterprise Tunisienne d'Activitiés Pétrolières, will hold the remaining 20%.

The Cosmos concession covers 440 square kilometers and is approximately 50 kilometers offshore Tunisia in the Gulf of Hammamet in an average water depth of 120 meters. The assets primarily target the Cosmos South fault block.

Proved and probable reserves as of year-end 2010 were 6.3 million barrels of oil.

Engineering is in progress to evaluate the feasibility of developing the field with three wells from a platform tied back to an FPSO with plateau rates of 15,000- to 20,000 barrels per day.

Chinook president and chief executive Matt Brister says, “NZOG as an experienced offshore player in New Zealand and existing operator in the Tunisian offshore will add value to the project as we collectively move Cosmos forward in 2012. The new partnership is a solid step forward on the value creation path for both companies.”

The Cosmos South development is the first of several offshore fields and prospects on Chinook’s Tunisian offshore acreage. Following funding, the company expects first oil in 2014.