Whitebark fast-tracks exploration at giant SA hydrogen-helium play

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

Whitebark says Rickerscote covers up to a colossal 400 square kilometres of closure and stands out as one of Australia’s largest undrilled, seismically defined onshore structures. It has the potential to unlock a regionally significant hydrogen, helium, and hydrocarbon (3H) field.

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

International well-engineering experts Zenith Energy have been engaged to craft a preliminary well design for the Rickerscote-1 well, targeting a drill date as soon as next year.

Both tenders are expected to wrap up next month, keeping Whitebark on a tight timeline to de-risk this clean energy frontier play.

Management says its Rickerscote prospect is a geological beast, which has multiple stacked reservoir targets with substantial 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 feet (Bcf) helium and 153M barrels oil equivalent (mmboe) hydrocarbons.

At the high end, those numbers blow out to a staggering 4.1Bkg hydrogen, 499Bcf helium, and 500 mmboe hydrocarbons. The figures are based on analogues in the nearby Amadeus Basin and York Peninsula and underscore why Rickerscote is being billed as a potential game-changer for Australia’s clean energy landscape.

The 2D seismic survey is set to kick off later this year, aiming to sharpen the subsurface picture and pinpoint an optimal spot to plunge the drill bit to maximise payability across Rickerscote’s reservoirs.

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

More than 20 prospects have been identified across the vast 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 - where Santos and Central Petroleum struck significant gas, hydrogen and helium reserves. The geological match-up was a main reason for the acquisition.

The project is also a stone’s throw from the Moomba gas hub, which would potentially slash the costs 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 next potentially booming sector. With global helium shortages and white hydrogen drawing big-money interest, a successful discovery at Rickerscote could catapult Whitebark - and South Australia - into the global spotlight as the next clean generation energy hub.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au