Key Highlights

  • ADX Energy update 1: under the agreement, Empyrean will fund 20 per cent of the drilling, completion and testing costs for the upcoming GOLD-1 well, which sits within an approximately 73 square kilometre licence area in Upper Austria.
  • ADX Energy update 2: according to details of the agreement, the total capped cost of the well is set at €2.777 million (roughly A$4.5 million), meaning Empyrean's contribution amounts to about €555,400, or approximately A$900,000.
  • ADX Energy update 3: the option fee secures Empyrean's exclusivity to finalise binding transaction documents until 16 October 2026.
  • ADX Energy update 4: aDX has noted that open-access gas pipeline infrastructure sits only around two kilometres from its shallow Austrian prospects, which the company says supports a relatively quick path to production if drilling is successful.

ADX Energy (ASX:ADX) is moving Austria and Sicily gas portfolio through its current technical and corporate programme. For this specific update, the disclosed work separates completed activity from unverified outcomes and identifies the remaining decisions affecting Austria and Sicily gas portfolio.

Company Business

ADX Energy Ltd (ASX:ADX) has advanced its European gas strategy on two fronts in recent weeks: locking in a funding partner for a planned gas well in Austria, and applying for additional offshore exploration acreage near Sicily, in Italy.

Under the agreement, Empyrean will fund 20 per cent of the drilling, completion and testing costs for the upcoming GOLD-1 well, which sits within an approximately 73 square kilometre licence area in Upper Austria. According to details of the agreement, the total capped cost of the well is set at €2.777 million (roughly A$4.5 million), meaning Empyrean's contribution amounts to about €555,400, or approximately A$900,000.

Current Programme

That funding is structured in stages: an initial option fee of €50,000 payable on execution of the Heads of Agreement, a further €120,600 due once an Environmental Impact Assessment is executed, and the remaining €434,800 payable once an Authorisation for Expenditure is issued for the well. The option fee secures Empyrean's exclusivity to finalise binding transaction documents until 16 October 2026. Importantly, Empyrean will hold an economic interest only - entitling it to a 10 per cent share of net revenues generated from the GOLD Cluster Partnership - rather than a direct participating interest in the underlying licence, with ADX remaining operator.

ADX said the GOLD-1 well is expected to be spudded in the fourth quarter of 2026, ahead of a subsequent well at the nearby SCHOE-1 prospect, which the company says is also fully permitted and ready for drilling.

Sector Context

The Austrian funding deal follows on from ADX's recent flow-testing work at its HOCH-1 well, also in Upper Austria, where a commingled test across four production zones returned 3.15 million cubic feet of gas per day (equivalent to about 548 barrels of oil per day), building on an earlier single-zone test of 2.7 million cubic feet per day. ADX has noted that open-access gas pipeline infrastructure sits only around two kilometres from its shallow Austrian prospects, which the company says supports a relatively quick path to production if drilling is successful.

Risks to Consider

Executive chairman Ian Tchacos said the drilling of GOLD-1, followed by SCHOE-1, was "the next target in the drive towards Cash Flow independence and increased corporate relevance", adding that the combination of the HOCH, GOLD and SCHOE prospects were "potentially capable of delivering approximately 1000 barrels of oil equivalent net to ADX" if successfully developed. That figure is a company estimate of potential future production and is not a guarantee of any outcome.

Separately, ADX has been expanding its footprint offshore Italy, in the Sicily Channel. In early September 2026 the company applied for a further exploration permit covering approximately 517 square kilometres off western Sicily, its third such application in recent months after two other applications lodged in mid-August 2026. Combined, the three new applications cover roughly 1,303 square kilometres of additional acreage.

What to Watch Next

ADX already holds a 100 per cent interest in an existing Sicily Channel permit, C.R 150.AU, covering 346 square kilometres, for which the company has previously reported an unrisked mean prospective resource estimate of 619 billion cubic feet of gas, with a best estimate of 1.265 trillion cubic feet. It is worth noting that a prospective resource estimate reflects the potentially recoverable quantities of gas that might exist in an undrilled or unappraised area - it is not a proven reserve, and there is no certainty that any of it will ultimately be discovered or extracted. If all three new applications are successful, ADX says its combined prospective footprint in the region would extend to about 1,650 square kilometres.