Oslo-listed Panoro Energy ASA has confirmed material prospective helium and natural gas resource potential at Exploration Right 376 (ER 376), an onshore block in South Africa in which the company holds a 100 per cent working interest. The confirmation follows an independent assessment conducted by reserves and resources specialist Sproule ERCE, which has produced a certified resource evaluation estimating gross recoverable prospective resources across the block.
Three independent plays have been evaluated for prospective resources within ER 376. The first is a combined helium and methane gas play targeting Fractured Basement Precambrian metasediments within the Ventersdorp and Witwatersrand Groups. The second is a regional methane gas play in Permian-age formations. Sproule ERCE evaluated all three plays as part of its independent resource assessment, providing Panoro with an independently verified technical foundation covering distinct geological settings within the block.
Helium is a strategically significant commodity given its application in semiconductors, medical imaging, and defence technologies, and its global supply is concentrated in a small number of producing countries. South Africa's Karoo and adjacent geological basins have attracted growing exploration interest in recent years as operators seek to identify commercially viable helium accumulations alongside conventional natural gas. ER 376's basement and Permian plays represent two distinct geological settings, which diversifies the prospective resource base and reduces single-play risk for Panoro at the exploration stage.
Panoro Energy is headquartered in Oslo and maintains a focused portfolio of producing and exploration assets across Africa. The company is well known for its operated and non-operated positions in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and the South African exploration right represents an expansion of its African footprint into helium-prospective territory. At this stage, the ER 376 position remains at the prospective resource assessment phase: no drilling decision, farm-out agreement, or field development plan has been announced in connection with this release.
The Sproule ERCE assessment provides Panoro with an independently certified resource evaluation from which it can progress commercialisation discussions, seek farm-in partners, or plan further geological and geophysical work. Prospective resources, by definition, are those quantities of petroleum estimated to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations and carry material geological and commercial uncertainty until a discovery is made and appraised. The confirmation of materiality by an independent assessor, however, is a meaningful step that typically precedes formal marketing of the exploration opportunity to potential co-venturers or farm-in candidates.