The Canadian junior player yesterday said Sproule's mid-case estimate of in-place undiscovered resource potential was 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent on the basis of defined prospects and leads in the onshore licences PEP 38348 and 38349.
PEP 38348 covers 2147 square kilometres of land in northern Poverty Bay, while PEP 38349 covers 6600sq.km of land in southern Hawkes Bay.
"We are very pleased with this detailed technical report, which independently acknowledges the significant undiscovered resource potential within our East Coast Basin exploration areas," Trans-Orient executive chairman David Bennett said.
"Our prospect inventory includes a number of play styles, all at relatively shallow depths; and having control over such a large prospective area provides a multitude of opportunities."
Bennett said the Sproule report highlighted the conventional exploration potential of the oil and gas prospects and leads located within the licences.
Numerous structural traps and potential reservoirs, including Miocene shelfal and turbidite fan sandstones with porosities of 20% or more and very porous shallow-marine Pliocene limestones, had been identified.
Bennett also said the report recognised further potential might exist in Trans-Orient's unconventional Waipawa-Whangai fractured shale formations, which shared similarities to successful fractured shale projects being developed in the United States.
These shales had been geochemically typed as the sources of the numerous oil and gas seeps within Trans-Orient's acreage.
"Our strategy is to drill a number of both the conventional targets and the targets within the Waipawa-Whangai fractured shale play," Bennett said.
"The latter may require the drilling of a number of boreholes to identify the most favourable drilling, completion and fracturing plans to optimise production from potential 'sweet spots' of the fracturing system."
Vancouver-headquartered Trans-Orient returned to New Zealand last year after a six-year break. The company had previously explored the basin from 1998 through to 2000, identifying numerous leads and prospects, some defined to near-drill status.
The company has completed its first round of geochemistry surveys and started a second. Seismic surveys are scheduled for this summer.
