A new chapter for Helium One as the explorer targets multiple events
“…We’re not just targeting a single event. We know from Tai One that we had helium shows at multiple intervals. We’ve designed the well for a success case…”
It’s testimony to Lorna Blaisse that just six months after she became chief executive of Helium One Global, that chairman and significant shareholder Ian Stalker retired from the business.
It was a sign he had confidence in the company’s former principal geologist and that the helium explorer was in the right hands. She had managed to secure a drilling rig after a year of contract frustrations, although Blaisse says it was a lengthy team effort to secure the ‘neat, compact’ and capable Epiroc Predator 220 drilling rig, and oversee wholesale changes in the executive team.
The changes reflect Helium’s evolution. Blaisse explains the company has transitioned over the past few months from having “more of that initial mining, minerals background to bringing in a stronger team who have that oil and gas background. Ultimately these are gas wells. It’s a gas project.”
Communication that has been a constant from the company has been about securing the rig and a Q3 2023 spud of the Tai prospect in the Tanzanian Rukwa Project.
Blaisse emphasizes how significant the rig is for Helium One. “It’s a huge, huge milestone for the company. This is the start of the new chapter for Helium One. Having our own rig has enabled us to not only fulfill our own our own drilling requirement and commitment at Tai, but it also will enable us to fast track any future exploration wells as well.”
As for this campaign, seventeen truckloads of equipment as of August had been transported on reinforced roads to the Tai drill site with the intention of a second half of September start.
In todays update, the civils work for the well site and access road has been carried out and completed by TNR Ltd. TNR have spent the past couple of months clearing, preparing, and constructing an 130m x 180m well pad that includes a concrete cellar to house the wellhead. The well pad has been constructed to include an area for the camp that will provide accommodation for rig crew and project personnel. The cementing component of the well pad has been approved and signed off by the Tanzania National Road Agency under the Ministry of Works and Transport.
The hope is that exploration will yield a show of helium and the company can then swiftly move into an appraisal and development stage. As Blaisse explains to Sarah Lowther in the video below, Tai is one of many play types in the rift basin. “We’re not just targeting a single event. We know from Tai One that we had helium shows at multiple intervals, and those intervals we will be targeting again.”
“We’ve designed the well for a success case and in a success case, we can re-enter the well, perforate and then test. So that would be the scenario that would unfold in the months coming post a success at Tai C.”
Read the company’s investor presentation
For regular video updates on Helium One follow on @Heliumone1
The author was remunerated but does not hold shares in the company
