EXPLORATION WORLD
Taranaki Basin , the company has been able to turn its attention to other regions yet to be developed , such as the East Coast Basin .
“[ The East Coast Basin ] clearly has a working hydrocarbon system ,” Cadenhead said . “ We know that because there ’ s 300 or 400 oil and gas seeps where oil and gas is actually gurgling out of the ground . So we know the kitchen is working there and we recognized that about five years ago and secured a very large land base-- nearly 2 million acres .”
He estimated it would take about three years to gather enough data and drill enough exploratory wells to prove commercial viability , but according to Cadenhead , several independent engineering assessments have indicated that the company is sitting atop reserves in the billions of barrels .
“ It just remains to be seen if it can be cracked ,” he said . “ We ’ re the only ones trying to crack it . It ’ s one of the main reasons the shareholders in TAG are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for a hit over there , as well as the good work that we ’ re doing in the Taranaki Basin .”
The small staff size at TAG makes the company ’ s successes thus far even more impressive . With only 25 employees in New Plymouth , TAG ’ s revenue for the 2014 fiscal year was just over $ 2.3 million per person . Over the last five years that the company has been growing , the staff has been hired on one-byone , with only two people leaving the company in that time span , according to Cadenhead .
“ We have a lot of fun here ,” he said . “ It ’ s a really loose atmosphere and because it ’ s such a small group , we don ’ t get bogged down in red tape and paper work . We just yell at each other down the hallway instead of sending memos around . We chat around the coffee pot . It really is a small family type of [ operation ] here .”
As a foreign entity operating in another country , TAG Oil has to be extra careful about their perception as good for the community . With a very active role sponsoring both local academic and sporting organizations , the company tries to make it clear that they ’ re trying to give back to their host country .
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