The area was identified as part of the company’s on-going prospect generation programme which is targeting helium-rich prospects in the Mountain States region of North America.
The Enterprise prospect is situated in the Four Corners States area and is updip and within 15 miles of a field that produced helium in concentrations between 5% and 10%.
The initial lease of 1,800 gross acres is for an initial term of five years, with an option to renew for a further five years, and a 12.5% royalty. Big Star Energy has 100% working interest in the lease and is the operator.
The lease is the first in a series of oil and gas leases for Big Star Energy, helping to meet its goals of acquiring up to 5,000 acres. The company is looking to lease the remainder of the mineral rights at the Enterprise prospect on the same terms.
“Onshore USA is a great location for helium exploration with a long history of high concentration helium production going back to the 1920s and a well-developed supply chain and market,” said Joanne Kendrick, Big Star Energy’s Managing Director.
“A helium discovery in the Mountain States region could potentially be brought onto production within six months using modular, off-the-shelf technology.”
Helium prospect generation programme
Big Star has an on-going helium prospect generation programme in the Mountain State region in the US. The area contains helium production and well tests confirming high helium concentrations between 2-10% of the raw gas stream, at multiple reservoir levels.
The technical programme is well underway at Enterprise and surrounding prospects including the reprocessing of aero-magnetics and gravity data and an in-field geochemical survey.
Big Star Energy aims to have several prospects ready for drilling by Q1 2020.
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