Key Highlights

• Emperor Energy is targeting a 2027 drilling window for the Judith-2 appraisal well.

• The company had not disclosed an executed full-form contract for the Valaris 107 rig.

• Judith East carries a 2C contingent recoverable resource of 166 billion cubic feet.

• Funding, environmental approval and a binding rig agreement remain critical pre-drilling milestones.

A gas discovery that has sat undrilled off the Victorian coast since Shell walked away from Judith-1 in 1989 is edging back towards a rig floor. What Emperor Energy (ASX:EMP) Limited has not done is sign the contract that would put one there.

The junior explorer owns 100 per cent of the 202 square kilometre Vic/P47 permit in the offshore Gippsland Basin, about 36 kilometres south of Marlo. It has spent much of 2026 trying to convert an indicative rig slot into a binding commitment.

That distinction matters. In its June 2026 quarterly the company described a non-binding confirmation of availability for the Valaris 107 jack-up, owned by contractor Valaris, and said it was in weekly negotiations to finalise terms. An executed full-form drilling contract has not been disclosed.

A slot, not a signature

Emperor has told the market it expects to secure the Valaris 107, which has been working nearby in the Gippsland Basin. A project update in early June said negotiations had entered their final stages; commentary in mid-August still described them as unfinished.

The timing has moved. Drilling was once flagged for mid-2026; the company now targets late in the first quarter of calendar 2027, aligned to a March 2027 rig window. Reporting around the March Placement cited February 2027, so the date has shifted more than once.

The prize at Judith

Judith sits about two kilometres north of the producing Kipper field, with the Orbost gas plant roughly 40 kilometres away. Only two wells have ever been drilled in the permit, Judith-1 by Shell and Moby-1 by Bass Strait Oil in 2004.

An independent audit by GaffneyCline, released in mid-2025, put a 2C contingent recoverable resource of 166 billion cubic feet at Judith East and a P50 prospective estimate of about 1.859 trillion cubic feet across the broader area. Contingent and prospective resources are not reserves.

The commercial pitch is the east coast Supply shortfall, which has made undeveloped gas within tie-back distance of existing plant unusually interesting. Judith-2 would test the contingent Volume and deeper prospective sands, with a possible up-dip sidetrack if results warrant.

Funding is the real gate

Emperor raised roughly 17.5 million dollars at 12 cents a share in March 2026 and acknowledged the money would not by itself cover an offshore well. It closed the June quarter with about 15.6 million dollars in cash.

A farm-in process opened in September 2025. The company has since reported non-binding indicative offers for the appraisal and development programme, with term sheets under negotiation and interest from gas buyers, LNG exporters and data centre operators. None of that is a signed funding agreement.

The sequence reads plainly: the well depends on Capital not yet committed, a rig not yet contracted, and an approval not yet granted.

Approvals still outstanding

The Judith-2 environment plan was lodged with the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority on 31 March 2025 and revised again during 2026. The regulator's public register still showed it as under assessment when checked for this article, with a proposed activity window running to December 2027.

Emperor has engaged well management specialist AGR on permitting and well design, and Tim Handley took the managing director role in January 2026.

Shares changed hands at about eight cents on 8 September 2026, down on the day, with Small Caps putting the Market Value near 75 million dollars against roughly 1.01 billion shares on issue. The available evidence does not establish a catalyst for that move.

The next confirmed milestones are a NOPSEMA decision on the environment plan, execution of a drilling contract with Valaris, and a funding or farm-in agreement. Until those land, the 2027 window remains an intention rather than a schedule.