TAG Oil receives notice from Apache under East Coast Farmout Agreement

VANCOUVER, Jan. 11, 2013 /CNW/ - TAG Oil Ltd. (the "Company" or "TAG") (TSX: TAO and OTCQX: TAOIF) announced today that Apache New Zealand Corporation LDC ("ANZ") has informed the Company that it will elect not to undertake the Phase 2 program under the Farmout Agreement dated September 1, 2011, between Eastern Petroleum (NZ) Limited ("Eastern"), Orient Petroleum (NZ) Limited ("Orient") and ANZ (the "Farmout Agreement") relating to drilling in the East Coast Basin of New Zealand. Eastern and Orient are indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of TAG.

TAG intends to continue and complete the Phase 1 program.  Under the Farmout Agreement, ANZ is obligated to pay all costs and expenses actually incurred or committed in respect of the Phase 1 program.

TAG CEO Garth Johnson stated "We look forward to executing our long-term goal for the East Coast; to drill and hopefully prove the concept of unconventional oil potential in this frontier basin."

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 oil and gas production infrastructure, TAG is enjoying substantial oil and gas production and reserve growth through development of several light oil and gas discoveries. TAG is also actively drilling high-impact exploration prospects identified across more than 2,953,810 net acres of land in New Zealand.

In the East Coast Basin, TAG will explore and potentially develop the major unconventional resource potential believed to exist in the tight oil source-rock formations that are widespread over the Company's acreage. These oil-rich and naturally fractured formations have many similarities to North America's Bakken source-rock formation in the successful Williston Basin.

Important information:

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.

All estimates and statements that describe the Company's objectives, goals or future plans 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, availability of adequate funding, volatility of commodity prices, imprecision of reserve estimates, environmental risks, competition from other producers, and changes in the regulatory and taxation environment. Actual results may vary materially from the information provided in this release, and there is no representation by TAG that the actual results realized in the future will be the same in whole or in part as those presented herein.

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.

For further information:

Dan Brown or Garth Johnson
TAG Oil Ltd., 1-604-682-6496
Email: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.tagoil.com/
Blog: http://blog.tagoil.com/