Whitebark fast-tracks exploration at giant SA | Australian Markets

Whitebark Energy is charging forward with drill planning at its Alinya hydrogen-helium project in South Australia’s Officer Basin, the place it’s planning to run a 2D seismic and drill program at its monster Rickerscote prospect.

Whitebark says Rickerscote covers up to a colossal 400 sq. kilometres of closure and stands out as one of Australia’s largest undrilled, seismically outlined onshore constructions. It has the potential to unlock a regionally important hydrogen, helium, and hydrocarbon (3H) subject.

Fresh off a $2 million capital raise earlier this 12 months to fund the lately acquired project, Whitebark is roping in exploration consultants to nail down 2D seismic surveys. It has a market tender course of underway to lock in exploration later this 12 months.

International well-engineering consultants Zenith Energy have been engaged to craft a preliminary effectively design for the Rickerscote-1 effectively, focusing on a drill date as quickly as subsequent 12 months.

Both tenders are anticipated to wrap up subsequent month, retaining Whitebark on a tight timeline to de-risk this clean vitality frontier play.

Management says its Rickerscote prospect is a geological beast, which has a number of stacked reservoir targets with substantial useful resource potential.

Early estimates peg its P50 recoverable volumes at a staggering 710 million kilograms white hydrogen (clean, carbon-free, naturally occurring hydrogen), 97 billion cubic toes (Bcf) helium and 153M barrels oil equal (mmboe) hydrocarbons.

At the high finish, these numbers blow out to a staggering 4.1Bkg hydrogen, 499Bcf helium, and 500 mmboe hydrocarbons. The figures are based mostly on analogues within the close by Amadeus Basin and York Peninsula and underscore why Rickerscote is being billed as a potential game-changer for Australia’s clean vitality panorama.

The 2D seismic survey is set to kick off later this 12 months, aiming to sharpen the subsurface image and pinpoint an optimum spot to plunge the drill bit to maximise payability throughout Rickerscote’s reservoirs.

Whitebark says structural depth mapping likens Rickerscote’s scale to Australian heavyweights, such because the Barrow Island and Gorgon fields, placing its dimension into perspective.

More than 20 prospects have been recognized throughout the huge Alinya project, with Rickerscote the crown jewel. The project is in prime South Australian real estate, which Whitebark says has geological similarities to the Amadeus Basin – the place Santos and Central Petroleum struck important gasoline, hydrogen and helium reserves. The geological match-up was a primary purpose for the acquisition.

The project can also be a stone’s throw from the Moomba gasoline hub, which might probably slash the prices of piping hard-to-contain hydrogen and helium molecules to market.

The South Australian Government’s aggressive push for a hydrogen-powered future positions Whitebark at the forefront of the following probably booming sector. With world helium shortages and white hydrogen drawing big-money curiosity, a profitable discovery at Rickerscote might catapult Whitebark – and South Australia – into the worldwide highlight as the following clean technology vitality hub.

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