Focus on RNS Information17 Dec 2025 07:18
There’s a lot of noise here but very little separation between opinion and what has actually been disclosed. The company has been clear that Hussar requires partner or offtake funding and that negotiations are ongoing, which is normal for a remote, high-pressure helium/hydrogen well; approvals only came at the end of October and logistics planning has followed since. The Central Petroleum assets are not “greenfield fantasies” but drilled re-entry wells with recorded flows and measured gas compositions, which is precisely why they are being acquired as part of a broader portfolio strategy rather than drilled from scratch. UK SPVs showing minimal balance sheets at Companies House is standard practice for international funding structures and tells you nothing about the capital sitting behind them, which in this case has already been referenced in formal releases.
The cash figures being quoted ignore what the money was actually spent on and how early-stage gas projects work. Since listing, the company has funded CPRs, seismic reinterpretation, engineering studies, native title processes, environmental approvals, dual-basin permitting, site planning and corporate costs required to stay Main Market compliant – none of which are optional or free.
Investors can reasonably debate risk, timelines and communication style, but repeatedly asserting fraud, incompetence or “nothing happening” ignores the documented approvals, negotiations and asset base that now exists and replaces analysis with rhetoric.
The phrase “fully funded” that keeps being repeated related to a specific re-entry scope at Mt Winter at the time, not the Hussar deepening, which has always been described as requiring partner or offtake funding. Hussar only received final WA approval at the end of October, and since then the company has moved into logistics, airstrip and road planning while negotiating a wellhead-funded JOA. That is exactly how risk is meant to be shared on a high-pressure helium/hydrogen well.
Admin costs are disclosed, salaries are public, and the board owns a significant equity stake, so there is no incentive to “burn cash for lifestyle”. Investors can debate risk and timelines, but repeatedly calling standard sector spend and staged funding fraud does not align with the published RNS history or with how comparable projects are developed.