Georgina Energy is a pre-revenue explorer that wants to produce helium, hydrogen and natural gas from old wells in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It reached London's main market in July 2024 by taking over a shell company. It now has drilling approval, a rig contract and a US$25m funding facility for its first well at Hussar. But the Hussar drilling promised for December 2024 had still not started by October 2026, and the company has funded itself through repeated small share placings.
Helium and hydrogen from 1982 wells
Georgina holds two projects through its Australian subsidiary Westmarket Oil & Gas. Hussar (EP513) in the Officer Basin of Western Australia is 100% owned. Mt Winter (EPA155) in the Amadeus Basin of the Northern Territory is being bought outright from Mosman Oil & Gas for AU$350,000 plus a 2.5% royalty.
The plan is to re-enter wells first drilled in 1982 and deepen them. At Hussar the target is the Townsend Formation beneath the salt layer, plus fractured basement rock. The company's resource figures are 'prospective', meaning estimated and undrilled. Nothing has been proven by a flow test.
Georgina intends to sell raw gas at the wellhead, so a buyer carries the processing and transport costs. A Halo Capital memorandum covers all helium, hydrogen and gas produced. It was extended to August 2028 and is not a binding contract. Harlequin Energy holds a non-binding off-take agreement and is funding the Hussar well. 29 May 2026 19 Aug 2024 31 Oct 2024 19 Dec 2025 28 Aug 2025 22 Jan 2025 26 Jan 2026
“Georgina's key difference is the plan to sell its gas from the well head having executed a non-binding off-take agreement with Harlequin Energy Limited in March 2026.” 29 May 2026
From a cash shell to a helium explorer
The company began as Mining, Minerals & Metals plc, a shell listed in March 2020 to buy a natural resources business. It raised about £727,000 in total. A South African licence deal was dropped in October 2023, and cash had fallen to £4,674 by July 2023. On the day it dropped that deal, it signed heads of terms to buy Georgina Energy.
The reverse takeover completed on 30 July 2024 with a £5m placing. The company took Georgina's name and the code GEX. The shares were 19.5p before the deal, 9.6p by September 2024 and 4.2p by January 2025. 21 May 2024 30 Oct 2023 26 Oct 2023 28 May 2024 30 Jul 2024 30 Jun 2025 31 Oct 2024
The first well keeps slipping
On 13 May 2024 the company said Hussar drilling would start in Q4 2024. Approval did not arrive. Management blamed the wettest quarter in over 80 years, then an expanded environmental report after the structure was remapped from 300 to 350 km². A 60-day delay followed.
In June 2025 the annual accounts were late and the shares were suspended until 4 July. Regulators approved the well plan in July and the environmental plan on 22 October, and gave formal drilling approval on 31 October 2025, about ten months after the first target. Meanwhile Mt Winter's 100% purchase was agreed in January 2025, but it was waiting on a Northern Territory land-rights agreement with Aboriginal landowners. 13 May 2024 20 Dec 2024 10 Jan 2025 29 May 2025 2 Jun 2025 4 Jul 2025 31 Oct 2025 20 Feb 2025 22 Jan 2025
“The Company remains confident that a drilling approval will be secured shortly after DEMIRS returns on 3 January 2025.” 20 Dec 2024
Small raises, a failed deal and a US$25m facility
Cash stayed thin. The company raised £1m at 5p in August 2025, then £200,000 and a £1m convertible debt facility in November, convertible at 8p. In November it also agreed to buy three helium and hydrogen targets from Central Petroleum for 25% of its shares. The shares fell to 2.5p in December 2025.
In January 2026 Harlequin Energy committed US$25m to fund Hussar drilling through an off-take structure, and the shares closed that month at 7.8p. The Central Petroleum agreement was terminated by the counterparty on 6 May 2026 after the parties could not agree amended terms. The CEO said the board would keep looking for deals. 28 Aug 2025 4 Nov 2025 11 Nov 2025 26 Jan 2026 30 Jan 2026 6 May 2026 29 May 2026
Dates that kept moving
The pattern is consistent. Hussar drilling was promised for Q4 2024, then Q3 2026, then a September 2026 spud date. The Mt Winter land-rights agreement was 'expected imminently' in June 2025 and was agreed in June 2026. The audit also ran late in 2025.
Some of this was weather and regulators, and the approvals did arrive. But management repeatedly gave firm dates that were then missed. Investors should treat the current target dates in that light. 13 May 2024 29 May 2025 30 Jun 2025 24 Jun 2026 23 Sep 2026 6 Aug 2026
Directors paid partly in shares
Anthony Hamilton is CEO and Peter Bradley chairs the board. Hamilton and fellow director Mark Wallace each held 13.6% after 6.5 million performance shares were issued to their company in April 2025 following a resource upgrade. In July 2026 the CEO, COO and CFO were each granted 2.5 million shares. Director Robin Fryer was removed in February 2025.
The record is mixed. Management won the permits and signed a rig and a funder. It missed its own timetable and lost the Central Petroleum deal. 14 Apr 2025 17 Jul 2026 11 Feb 2025 29 May 2026 6 May 2026
Site ready, rig not on site, cash still thin
At 31 January 2026 cash was £0.27m. The auditor flagged a material going-concern uncertainty, saying more funding is needed through October 2027. Since then the company has raised about £1m at 2.7p, £1m at 5p, £2m at 9p and £1.25m at 12.5p, plus warrant exercises. Shares in issue rose from 90m at listing to about 281m. It also repaid a US$287,000 loan, and a debt provider converted about £293,000 of loans.
Hussar site works are finished, with an airstrip and a water well. On 23 September 2026 record rain delayed the Ensign 970 rig, and the September spud date was dropped. The company then chose a roughly 350 km seismic survey over Hussar, funded by Harlequin, with approvals pending. The latest close was 12.8p on 9 October 2026. 29 May 2026 4 Jun 2026 1 May 2026 1 Jun 2026 31 Jul 2026 24 Aug 2026 23 Sep 2026 24 Sep 2026 2 Oct 2026
Seismic first at Hussar, drilling at Mt Winter by mid-2027
The company says drilling Hussar remains its main priority. It has set no new spud date, saying one will follow. The seismic survey needs regulatory and heritage approvals, then about 30 days of fieldwork.
At Mt Winter, a landowner authorisation meeting is planned for mid-November 2026. The AU$300,000 payment to Mosman completes the purchase after the tenement is granted. Seismic is planned for early 2027 and re-entry drilling by mid-2027. Hussar is to be funded by Harlequin and partners, and the company has not said how Mt Winter will be paid for. 24 Sep 2026 2 Oct 2026 6 Oct 2026 9 Oct 2026 28 Jul 2026
Written by AI from Georgina Energy plc's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources