- New seismic interpretation adds a significant oil prospect
- Potential for oil and gas up-dip of existing wells
- Three additional leads identified and currently being evaluated
- Helium and hydrogen potential to be followed-up
Recently listed Macallum New Energy (ASX:MNE) has identified a number of prospective drill targets to follow-up in exploration permit EP-494 in the onshore North Perth Basin of WA.
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The targets were identified in new interpretation of existing and recently released seismic data.
MNE has continued to evaluate the entire EP-494 permit using all available data in the region while waiting for delivery of the new data volumes from the Barberton 3D and Condor 2D seismic surveys.
With new 2D seismic data recently released into the public domain, MNE has evaluated areas of the permit that previously had limited seismic coverage, resulting in the discovery of one new prospect and three new leads being identified within the permit,
The new prospect and leads have been identified to be prospective for both oil and gas and work is underway to determine prospective resources and geological chance of success with results expected to be announced in Q3 of 2026.
The Aberfeldy prospect is a fault-bounded closure up-dip of two wells with known oil and gas shows in a location well suited to hydrocarbon charge and improved reservoir quality.
Dandaragan-1 was drilled by Discovery Petroleum in 1995 and recovered biodegraded oil from a shallow reservoir at 820m. Energy Resources drilled Dandaragan Deep-1 in 2025 in adjacent permit EP-507 and reported oil and gas shows over 1,000m in the Jurassic section.
Aberfeldy is considered a material size prospect with a closure area of 16 sq. km and multiple potential reservoir targets.
Three additional leads have been identified with technical studies ongoing. The Bowmore and Cardhu leads are Jurassic three-way closures and pinch-out traps downthrown to the Urella and Darling Faults whereas the Barberton East lead is a Triassic/Permian three-way closure against the Darling Fault, sealed by crystalline basement on the upthrown side. Additional 2D seismic data may be required to fully mature these leads to drillable status.
The company says it is well placed to take advantage of WA government implemented changes that enables exploration for naturally occurring hydrogen and helium within petroleum permits and can be granted to existing titles on application. MNE intends to apply for these gases to be added to EP-494 and will consider helium (and potentially hydrogen) as a potential secondary objective in our oil and gas activities.
Sub-soil sampling analysis in EP-494, undertaken in 2022 by researchers from Curtin University, demonstrated strong evidence for naturally occurring hydrogen and helium within the permit with the Darling Fault being identified as a possible conduit for these gases.
MNE is steady at 13.5¢. Mkt cap $18.87M.
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