Emperor Energy Ltd (ASX:EMP) has raised $1 million in a capital raise that was heavily oversubscribed within two hours.
The funds strengthen the company’s balance sheet and will also fund further exploration activities at its wholly-owned Judith Gas Field in Victoria’s Gippsland Basin.
This raise follows encouraging news from a 3D seismic data survey, which significantly increased data quality and resolution, allowing Emperor to build an updated structural interpretation of the Judith Gas Field.
“Incredible support”
Emperor director Carl Dumbrell told Proactive it had been overwhelmed by the support in the capital raise.
“We’ve had huge support, it was oversubscribed in two hours, so we’ve had to scale back quite aggressively,” he said.
“We can only thank people for their ongoing support, and we encourage everyone to continue supporting us on market.”
State of play at Judith
Emperor Energy owns the VicP/47 permit area, of which the Judith Gas Field forms part.
The permit area, part of the offshore Gippsland Basin, is in Australia’s premier hydrocarbon province and adjacent to the Kipper gas field being developed by Esso/BHP as part of its Kipper-Tuna-Turrum gas project.
“We’re close to Melbourne and surrounded by infrastructure, we have excellent relationships with all of the regulators and our stakeholders and our permit is in excellent standing, which is mission-critical for any resources company,” Dumbrell said.
Emperor recently analysed 3D seismic data of the Judith Gas Field, acquired from global seismic company CGG in mid-2020, which has significantly increased data quality and resolution.
The company has noted a dramatic improvement in data resolution across the entire gas field except for relatively small areas at the top of the structure close to the major Rosedale Fault where the combination of steep dips and fault shadow effects still leaves these high areas with some reduction in seismic resolution.
“The reason we did that was to de-risk the Judith structure ahead of exploration drilling,” Dumbrell said.
“The results were extremely positive, with the structural interpretation of the Judith Gas Field carried out using the new 3D seismic data validating our previous interpretation, which is really important.”
Amplitude Versus Offset (AVO) analysis, which allows comparison in the variations of fluid properties present in the porous space of the target gas sands, shows strong responses through the Judith Gas Sand 2 and Judith Gas Sand 3.
“An AVO study is the best indicator other than drilling a well, and it correlates with historical results - overall, this is a comprehensive result achieved by our team, which de-risks everything going forward.”
Looking ahead
The AVO results are seen as providing significant exploration upside for the planned Judith-2 Well that is designed to intersect the Longtom 200 Gas Sand at a depth of approximately 3000 metres.
The strong AVO gas response is evident over more than 500 metres of vertical relief, similar to the Judith Gas Sands 2 and 3.
Further analysis is to be carried out on the Judith Gas Sand 1, Judith Gas Sand 4, various additional Longtom sands and the extension of the Kipper Gas Sands into the Vic/P47 Permit area.
The extent of AVO response indicates the nature of the multiple stacked gas targets that exist within the Judith Gas field.
“Gas is the energy of the future in Australia and we are transitioning towards it,” Dumbrell said.
“We expect our project will be one lead into the hungry energy market.”
- Daniel Paproth