History
Australis bought Encana's Tuscaloosa Marine Shale acreage in 2017, drilled it with debt and equity, wrote it down in 2020, then found a drilling partner and sold its producing wells in 2025.
2016-2017: Listing and the Encana purchase
Australis Oil & Gas was admitted to the ASX on 21 July 2016, after an IPO that raised $30 million by issuing 120 million shares at $0.25. It set out to develop the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in Louisiana and Mississippi, and also held licences in Portugal. In January 2017 independent estimates roughly doubled: the best-estimate TMS contingent resource (oil not yet cleared for production) rose 104% to 26.4 million barrels on about 19,000 net acres.
The company then made a much larger move. Shares were suspended at its own request in late February, and on 28 February 2017 it agreed to buy all of Encana's TMS assets for US$80m. The deal added 62,000 net core acres and about 1,900 barrels a day of production, lifting the core position to 81,000 net acres. It was funded by a A$100m placement of 434.78 million shares at A$0.23, completed in April. The price was adjusted to US$68.3m, mainly for net oil sales since November, and the purchase settled on 13 April 2017 with about US$22m of net cash left.
2018-2019: Drilling the first wells
Year-end 2017 estimates booked the company's first undeveloped reserves, with 46.6 million barrels in the 2P (proved plus probable) category. In March 2018 a placement of 115.28 million shares at A$0.34 raised about A$39.2m, and in June a three-year US$75m term facility was signed with Macquarie. A Nabors rig was contracted, and the first well of the program, Bergold 29H-2, started drilling on 29 September 2018. It hit unstable rock and a stuck drill assembly and was completed on about 2,000 feet of sideways section, while Stewart 30H-1 went well, producing 1,177 barrels a day over its first 30 days, 34% above the expected curve, at a cost of US$10.3m.
In February 2019 the company raised A$30.5m by placing about 87 million shares at A$0.35, with demand well above the shares available. Results were mixed. Williams 26H-2 also suffered equipment trouble and a shortened lateral, while Taylor 27H-1 averaged 1,105 barrels a day. By the end of 2019 a later review of the six initial wells found early output 9% above the expected curve, but only 57% of planned lateral length on average. Macquarie amended the facility in December, with debt at US$34m and cash at US$18m, and the company began seeking industry partners to fund development.
2020-2024: Writedown and the long partner search
In April 2020, after the oil price fall, Australis repaid US$10m to Macquarie, the undrawn US$40m was cancelled, leasing and capital spending stopped, and cash fell to about US$4m. First-half results showed a non-cash impairment of US$126.7m and a net loss of US$125.8m. The company also relinquished its Portuguese licences from 30 September 2020. Year-end 2020 estimates cut 2P reserves 66% to 21.0 million barrels because the assumed drilling plan shrank from 180 to 58 wells; the oil was reclassified rather than lost.
In March 2021 the company raised A$8.175m at A$0.05 a share, with a share purchase plan of up to A$2m, to restart leasing and fund partner talks. In the following years no undeveloped reserves were booked because no partner was secured. Acreage shrank from about 98,000 net acres in early 2022 to 61,400 by early 2024, and the resource estimate fell from 120 to 89 million barrels. Macquarie added a new Facility C in late 2023, and US$6m was drawn in March 2024, with part used to pay down Facility A and the rest as new cash. By January 2025 acreage was 48,000 net acres, the resource was 65 million barrels, and partner diligence continued.
2025-2026: A partner at last
On 27 November 2025 two deals ended the search. A US-listed partner can earn 80% of about 46,100 net undeveloped acres by funding a US$46.25m program of wells, with Australis's 20% carried. Separately, 90% of the producing well interests were sold to EQV, a deal that closed on 30 December 2025 at US$15.6m after adjustments. Macquarie was repaid in full and the facilities terminated. EQV took over operating the producing wells, and the sale cut producing reserves to 124 thousand barrels.
On 29 July 2026 the company reported that the first carry well, Willson 1H, a planned 10,000-foot lateral, had its permit approved on 15 July and that the partner had confirmed it would drill and complete it, targeted for Q4 2026 subject to rig availability. A permit for the second well, Mathieu 1H, was approved on 19 August. As of the latest report, cash was US$11.2m with no debt, after US$1.3m was paid to EQV.
Written from the 39 story beats below (2016 to 29 July 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.