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Penny Taylor
H3 Energy has flicked the switch on a fresh technical push to chase helium across its sprawling Alinya project in South Australia’s Officer Basin, adding a potentially lucrative twist to its already sizeable gas play.
A targeted assessment program is now underway across the Milford and Milford East structures, to the south-east of Rickerscote, aimed at understanding just how much high-value helium could be hiding within its broader gas system.
The work will zero in on key geological formations, including the Alinya Formation and Pindyin Sandstone, while also evaluating reservoir quality, trap integrity and sealing capacity. These ingredients together may determine whether helium stacks up as a commercial kicker.
The program will feed into a broader strategy to unlock multi-commodity value from the basin, with helium emerging as a premium prize, given tightening global supply and rising demand from high-tech and medical sectors.
‘We are increasingly seeing the scale of the opportunity across the basin.’
H3 Energy chief executive officer Nik Sykiotis
The move followed earlier independent work by Sproule ERCE, which signalled a potential best-case high estimate (3U) helium resource of 209 billion cubic feet and 1.2 billion kilograms of hydrogen at the Rickerscote structure – numbers that could hint at serious scale if replicated elsewhere across the project.
Expanding the focus to Milford and Milford East, H3 will assess and test whether that helium potential extends across a much wider footprint, which could materially shift the economics of the entire Alinya asset.
H3 Energy chief executive officer Nik Sykiotis said: “By taking a portfolio approach across multiple structures, we are positioning H3E to capture value across a range of potential gas streams, while maintaining a disciplined and technically driven exploration strategy.”
The timing of the study looks deliberate. Helium markets have been tightening globally and explorers with credible exposure are increasingly attracting attention as industries scramble for secure supply.
The latest push will add momentum to news from two weeks ago that H3 had opened farm-out discussions in a bid to lure a partner to fund drilling at its Alinya project.
Rickerscote alone is a potentially oil and gas resource giant, with a 3U prospective resource of 4.1 trillion cubic feet of gas and 617 million barrels of liquids as independently assessed by Fluid Energy Consultants.
And that is just the opening act. H3 has mapped out more than 20 additional prospects and a string of leads across the wider Alinya project area, underlining the sheer scale of exploration upside in the Officer Basin play. The massive structural trend offers potential exposure to oil, gas, hydrogen and now helium.
At the same time, the company has been sharpening its technical understanding across its broader portfolio, including the Warro gas field in Western Australia, where re-evaluation work has been steadily improving the outlook for commercial flows.
Together, the pieces point to the company repositioning itself around high-impact, multi-commodity energy plays – with helium now emerging as a potentially game-changing addition.
If the current assessment confirms meaningful helium concentrations across multiple structures at Alinya, H3 could be sitting on a rare combination: a large-scale gas project with a built-in high-margin by-product.
That kind of upside has the potential to reshape project economics, attract farm-in partners and put the company firmly on the radar of a market increasingly hungry for critical gases.
Helium might be invisible, but for H3 Energy, it’s quickly becoming hard to ignore. If the numbers stack up, this extremely low-density gas could punch well above its weight in the company’s next growth phase.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
