Vancouver, B.C.  December 16, 2010 (Investorideas.com Energy Stocks Newswire)  Canadian listed, New Zealand oil and gas producer TAG Oil Ltd. (TSX-V: TAO), announced today that the Company has completed the acquisition of a 20% interest in offshore exploration Permit PEP 52181, which covers a 42,379-acre area in the main Taranaki oil and gas discovery fairway.

PEP 52181, operated by a subsidiary of Australian-based Roc Oil Limited, is located just 8 km from shore and is in close proximity to existing infrastructure, making commercialization in the event of discovery efficient and cost effective.

The attractive Kaheru Prospect is situated in a successful discovery fairway and in close proximity to production infrastructure.

The Permit, which contains the Kaheru Prospect and numerous other leads, has extensive 2-D and 3-D seismic coverage, and has been identified to have high-impact exploration potential with a good chance for success. Kaheru is a Miocene-aged prospect on the same successful thrust belt play fairway as many significant Taranaki oil and gas fields, including: Rimu, Kauri, Manutahi immediately north, and the Tariki, Ahuroa, Waihapa and Ngaere (�TAWN�) fields further north. Immediately to the west, the large Kupe Gas-Condensate field is now also in full production.

Please link to our site for further information on TAG's Taranaki Basin oil and gas fields.

TAG Oil CEO Garth Johnson commented, �This new acquisition is an excellent addition to our Taranaki Basin prospect portfolio. The Kaheru Prospect brings TAG a significant amount of resource potential, and an opportunity to enter a new permit with a proven international offshore operator. We look forward to working with Roc Oil Limited and the other joint venture partners with a view to advancing Kaheru to the drilling phase.�

TAG is also pleased to report that production testing of the Cheal-BH-1 horizontal well continues, with the well now flowing oil, gas and fracture fluids. The Company anticipates that once all fracture fluids and excess fracture sand have been recovered, a reliable stabilized flow rate will be achieved. �TAG is very encouraged by the testing of the horizontal well thus far, as well as all of the results from workover operations on existing Cheal wells. This has resulted in TAG recently achieving the highest daily oil and gas production volume in Cheal's history.� continued Mr. Johnson.

More information on TAG's oil and gas production can be found on our website.

The Company will recommence drilling at Cheal and Sidewinder in February 2011. The program includes development and step-out drilling, as well as exploration drilling targeting high-impact prospects defined on 3-D seismic, all within the Company's 100%-controlled Taranaki Basin portfolio.

TAG Oil Ltd.

TAG Oil Ltd. is a Canadian-listed company (TSX-V: TAO) with operations in New Zealand. With 100% control over all its core assets, including production infrastructure, TAG is anticipating production growth through development of multiple oil and gas discoveries in the Taranaki Basin and through high-impact exploration drilling on prospects identified over 3,500 sections of land.

In the East Coast Basin, TAG is pursuing the major unconventional resource potential that has been demonstrated in the Waipawa Black Shale and Whangai Shale source-rock formations that are widespread across the Company's acreage. The geological characteristics of these oil-rich, naturally fractured, thermally mature formations compare favorably to fractured shale formations such as the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin and Liassic Shale in the Paris Basin.

Contact

Dan Brown or Garth Johnson TAG Oil Ltd. 1-604-682-6496 TAG Oil website: http://www.tagoil.com/

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 Oil. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including those related to the exploration and development of TAG Oil's Kaheru Prospect and Cheal oil field and Sidewinder discovery in the Taranaki Basin of New Zealand. Actual results may vary materially from the information provided in this release, and there is no representation by TAG Oil that actual results realized in the future would be the same in whole or in part as those presented herein.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements are set forth in, but are not limited to, filings that the Company and its independent evaluator have made, including the Company's most recent reports in Canada under National Instrument 51-101.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.