Petratherm Limited (ASX:PTR) has a different strategy to that of many of its peers. Instead of focusing on obtaining the highest temperatures, they are aiming to find hot rock in excess of 200 degree Celsius but at a more shallow depth - less than 3.5 kilometres and positioned close to transmission infrastructure. They believe finding hot rocks close to established infrastructure but at lower temperatures out weighs the cost of drilling deeper and running transmission lines across the state.

Petratherm kicked of its exploration program in early August 2005 spudding Yerila-1 as part of the Callabonna project (GEL157). Phase 1 drilling to a depth of 693.5 meters returned a temperature of 64^OC and provided a raw temperature gradient of 56^OC/km.

Paralana-1B located in GEL178 was drilled shortly after to 485 meters. Logging obtained a temperature of 58^OC providing a gradient of 81.5^OC/km.

Petratherm decided to pursue the Paralana project. On the 20th May 2006, it started further drilling on Paralana-1B to extend it from 491km to a depth of greater than 1.5km. A final depth of 1,807metres was reached on the 29th June 2006 and logging on the 30/31st August indicated a temperature of 109^OC @ 1,807metres and when extrapolated out meets the target objective of 200^OC at 3.6km.

On January 30th 2007, Petratherm announced the Paralana Energy Joint Venture (PEJV) with Joint Venture partner Beach Petroleum Limited. This was shortly followed by the Federal Government awarding Petratherm with a $5 million dollar REDI grant to test the HEWI (Heat Exchanger Within Insulator) project. On the 4th June 2007, the PEJV partners approved work to commence on the 3.5 to 4km ‘deep’ well design and drill rig selection to drill the two production wells.

Should things go to plan, Petratherm plans to start drilling in early 2008 and hopes to be delivering 7MW to the Beverley Uranium Mine by end of 2009. Petratherm has a MoU with Heathgate Resources to supply power to Heathgate’s Beverley Uranium Mine. Beverley currently uses 3MW but this is expected to increase to 4MW with the expansion of the mine.

Projects abroad : Spain

Petratherm has set up a Spanish subsidiary company, Petratherm España. This subsidiary is 93% owned by Petratherm Limited and 7% owned by Prehenita SL, a local geological consulting firm. The company has applied for a Geothermal Investigation License (GIL) for a site 50km northwest of Madrid, and for two licences for a site 25km north of Barcelona.

Technical Announcements :

» Paralana project moves to key heat exchanger well design and rig selection - 4th June 2007.
» Barcelona Hot Rock Project - 28th February 2007.
» New Geothermal Project Near Renmark - 27th February 2007.
» New Geothermal Project Sites in Spain - 6th February 2007.
» Paralana Test Well Confirms Geothermal Resource - 7th September 2006.
» Minor Delay in Paralana Temperature Measurement - 15th August 2006.
» Paralana Geothermal Well Completed Successfully - 29th June 2006.
» Paralana Geothermal Drilling Starts - 22nd May 2006.
» Paralana Confirms Exceptionally High Temperature Gradient - 19th October 2005.
» Yerilla ‘A Hotter Hot Rocks Well’ than first thought after re-check - 29th September 2005.
» Yerila–1 Successfully Completed - 30th August 2005.
» Yerila-1 Spuds at Callabonna - 2nd August 2005.

Petratherm currently holds the following GELs :

Paralana Project :
130km northeast of Leigh Creek, 11 kilometres from the Beverley Uranium Mine.
GEL156 - South Australia, 498 square kilometres, expiring 22-Nov-2009.
GEL178 - South Australia, 498 square kilometres, expiring 22-Nov-2009.
GEL180 - South Australia, 500 square kilometres, expiring 22-Nov-2009.

Callabonna Project :
northeast of Leigh Creek
GEL157 - South Australia, 498 square kilometres, expiring 16-Feb-2009.
GEL179 - South Australia, 500 square kilometres, expiring 16-Feb-2009.

Ferguson Hill Project :
Approximately 70 kilometres north of Olympic Dam.
GEL158 - South Australia, 499 square kilometres, expiring 20-Jan-2009.

Renmark Project :
GEL241 - South Australia, 477 square kilometres, expiring 25-Feb-2012.
GEL242 - South Australia, 440 square kilometres, expiring 25-Feb-2012.