TAG Oil Ltd. (TSXV: TAO, OTCQX: TAOIF, and FSE: TOP) (“TAG Oil” or the “Company”) announced today the following organizational changes of the Company’s leadership. Namely, Mr. Abdel (Abby) Badwi has been appointed as Executive Chairman and CEO of the Company. Mr. Toby Pierce is stepping down as CEO, effective immediately, to pursue other business opportunities.
Mr. Badwi relocated to Cairo, Egypt, last May, where he focused on evaluating the Company’s performance strategies and assembling a skilled team of Egyptian professionals to oversee its operations in the country. This initiative has now been successfully accomplished with the recruitment of a talented technical and operating team consisting of experienced Egyptian nationals.
Mr. Badwi will continue to oversee the Company’s business from Cairo and together with TAG Oil ‘s V.P. and COO, Mr. Suneel Gupta, they will monitor corporate and operational progress and drive the expansion of the Company.
Following the recently announced $6.8 million capital infusion from the offering and the relocation of the Canadian leadership team to Cairo, the Company will be eliminating several Canada based positions. This will significantly reduce general and administrative costs and enable the Company to prudently apply its financial resources towards its capital spending programs.
Mr. Badwi commented: “On behalf of the Company’s board of directors, we would like to extend our best wishes to Toby in his future ventures and express our sincere gratitude for his many years of service with TAG Oil. Toby’s leadership at TAG Oil has been significant in helping the Company monetize its legacy New Zealand assets and position the Company to build its asset base in Egypt. Looking ahead and reflecting on the huge potential of the Egyptian assets, as well as the lessons from our recent drilling campaign, it became clear that a permanent Canadian leadership presence in Cairo and involving experienced Egyptian nationals in managing our operations in Egypt was necessary. TAG Oil’s management will continue to leverage Canadian and U.S. unconventional horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing expertise to support and advise our team in the specialized development of the Company’s large Abu Roash “F” resource play in Egypt’s Western Desert”.
About TAG Oil Ltd.
TAG Oil (http://www.tagoil.com/) is a Canadian based international oil and gas exploration company with a focus on operations and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa.
For further information:
Abdel (Abby) Badwi, Executive Chairman and CEO
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.tagoil.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tag-oil-ltd
X: https://twitter.com/tagoilltd
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes certain statements and information that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to, statements that relate to Mr. Badwi and Mr. Gupta’s continued roles in monitoring the corporate and operational progress and driving the expansion of the Company; the Company’s intention to eliminate several Canada based positions and the elimination of such positions significantly reducing general and administrative costs and enabling the Company to prudently apply its financial resources towards its capital spending programs; and management continuing to leverage Canadian and U.S. unconventional horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing expertise to support and advise the TAG Oil team in the specialized development of the Company’s large Abou Roash “F” resource play in Egypt’s Western Desert.
Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainty affecting the business of TAG Oil. Such statements can generally, but not always, be 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. All statements that describe the Company’s plans relating to operations and potential strategic opportunities are forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and are reliant on assumptions made by the Company’s management, and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed in the Company’s periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, and the assumptions underlying the forward-looking information, actual results could materially differ from those currently projected, and there is no representation by TAG Oil that the actual results realized in the future will be the same in whole or in part as those presented herein. TAG Oil disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. Readers are referred to the additional information regarding TAG Oil’s business contained in TAG Oil’s reports filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that could cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. For more information on TAG Oil and the risks and challenges of its business, investors should review TAG Oil’s filings that are available at www.sedarplus.ca.
TAG Oil provides no assurance that forward-looking statements and information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
Exploration for hydrocarbons is a speculative venture necessarily involving substantial risk. The Company’s future success in exploiting and increasing its current reserve base will depend on its ability to develop its current properties and on its ability to discover and acquire properties or prospects that are capable of commercial production. However, there is no assurance that the Company’s future exploration and development efforts will result in the discovery or development of additional commercial accumulations of oil and natural gas.