TAG Retains Unconventional Experts & Establishes East Coast Basin Office

VANCOUVER, Oct. 23, 2013 /CNW/ - TAG Oil Ltd. (TSX: TAO) and (OTCQX: TAOIF), announces that unconventional oil and gas specialists Stephen L. Dutnell, P.E. and David B. Cornue P.G., C.H.M.M., have joined the Company's operational team on a long-term contract basis. Mr. Dutnell and Mr. Cornue will be based in TAG's newly established operational base in the city of Napier on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island.

TAG is pursuing the major unconventional resource potential that has been demonstrated by TAG's extensive geotechnical studies and the results of the Ngapaeruru-1 well, drilled in spring, which intersected 155 meters of unconventional oil-and-gas pay in the source rock. The addition of Mr. Dutnell and Mr. Cornue to the Company's operational team, and TAG's newly established East Coast office, will facilitate TAG's expanding operational plans and drilling activity, with a goal of establishing the East Coast Basin's first unconventional oil and gas production.

Both Mr. Dutnell and Mr. Cornue are highly respected senior petroleum and environmental experts, with extensive experience in all facets of unconventional oil and gas exploration and development. Their collective 57 years of petroleum experience includes work in many unconventional oil and gas developments in the United States, including the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Marcellus and Utica Shale plays.

David B. Cornue

Mr. Cornue obtained his Master of Science degree from State University of New York, Stony Brook, and his BA in Geology from the University of Maine. He has managed, performed, or contributed to numerous unconventional oil and gas projects, including the preparation of several environmental manuals specific to oil and gas development prepared for the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, and also the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Since 2009 he has represented the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York in preparing and presenting their formal commentary regarding new regulations applicable to unconventional development. And in February 2012, he was instrumental in a report prepared for the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development and the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited (GNS Science) for onshore unconventional exploration in New Zealand.

Stephen L. Dutnell

Mr. Dutnell has more than 25 years of petroleum related experience. He obtained his B.S. Petroleum Engineering from the University of Louisiana - Lafayette in 1983, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Oklahoma, New York, and Ohio. Most recently, Mr. Dutnell has provided technical support in the permitting of over 100 vertical and horizontal oil and gas wells drilled or to be drilled in the Utica and Marcellus Shale unconventional plays in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the state of Ohio.

TAG Oil Ltd.

TAG Oil Ltd. (http://www.tagoil.com/) is a Canadian-based production and exploration company with operations focused exclusively in New Zealand. With 100% ownership over all its core assets, including extensive oil and gas production infrastructure, TAG is enjoying significant organic value creation through development and appraisal drilling of several light oil and gas discoveries and through prospect generation across and extensive acreage position. As New Zealand's leading explorer, TAG actively drills high-impact conventional and unconventional exploration prospects identified in the Taranaki Basin, East Coast Basin and Canterbury Basin that covers more than 2,669,780 net acres of land, prospective for major discovery in New Zealand.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainty affecting the business of TAG. Such statements can be generally, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "forecasts", "schedules", "prepares", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including all estimates and statements that describe the Company's objectives, goals, production rates, optimization, infrastructure capacity and or future plans relating to the drilling programs in the East Coast Basins are forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation: risks associated with oil and gas exploration, development, exploitation, production, marketing and transportation, volatility of commodity prices, imprecision of reserve estimates and production guidance, environmental risks, competition from other producers, and changes in the regulatory and taxation environment. These forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and assumptions, including factors and assumptions regarding the management's views on the oil and gas potential in TAG's permits, well performance and production rates, the success of any operations, completing infrastructure and the costs necessary to complete the operations.

TAG Oil is involved in the exploration for and production of hydrocarbons, and its property holdings with the exception of the Cheal and Sidewinder project areas are in the grass roots or primary exploration stage. Exploration for hydrocarbons is a speculative venture necessarily involving substantial risk. There is no certainty that the expenditures incurred on TAG Oil's exploration properties will result in discoveries of commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. TAG Oil's future success in exploiting and increasing its current reserve base will depend on TAG Oil's ability to develop its current properties and on its ability to discover and acquire properties or prospects that are producing. There is no assurance that TAG Oil's future exploration and development efforts will result in the discovery or development of additional commercial accumulations of oil and natural gas.Other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements are also set forth in filings that TAG and its independent evaluator have made, including TAG's most recently filed reports in Canada under National Instrument 51-101, which can be found under TAG's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

TAG undertakes no obligation, except as otherwise required by law, to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors change.

SOURCE: TAG Oil Ltd.

Dan Brown or Garth Johnson
Phone: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.tagoil.com/
Blog: http://blog.tagoil.com/