Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei National Petroleum Company Sendirian Berhad (PetroleumBRUNEI) has appointed Tap Oil Limited (Tap) as the new operator for its onshore Block M. Tap will take a 40% equity interest in Block M.

Tap is an oil and gas exploration and production company with strong technical and operational background. The company is a regular operator of offshore seismic and drilling programmes with a track record of safe, efficient and cost effective operations.

Tap holds interests in the North West Shelf of offshore Western Australia, the Gippsland and Bass Basins off Victoria, as well as offshore New Zealand and the Philippines. Tap’s main production assets at this stage are its 12.22% interest in the Harriet Group of oil and gas fields and a 15% interest in the Woollybutt Oil Field, both located offshore in the Carnavon Basin, Western Australia.

“We look forward to progress the development of Block M with Tap Oil as its new operator, as this will help us identify additional hydrocarbon resources in Brunei Darussalam, and proceed the development of the same, if economical. This in turn, will promote and develop the national industry base, and safeguard the continuous supply of petroleum products." said Hj Mohd Ja’afar Hj Awang Bakar, PetroleumBRUNEI’s CEO.

Detailed technical data analysis is currently being conducted on Block M which covers an area of 3,011 sq. km in the Belait and Southern Tutong districts. High resolution aeromagnetic and standard air gravity data over the whole block are expected to be acquired by early 2008.