Austrian Court win opens door for ADX Energy to resume Welchau-1 oil and gas testing

• Austrian court clears path for ADX Energy to resume oil and gas testing after environmental groups failed to block operations
• Company can now test up to  three remaining intervals at Welchau-1 discovery from October 2025 through March 2026
• Fluid sampling of the Reifling formation that was perforated prior to suspension is first task on the list
• Decision is a strong endorsement for gas exploration in Austria as a priority to gain independence from Russian gas and LNG imports of gas produced from high environmental impact US shale fracking

Special Report: Key testing operations at ADX Energy’s intriguing Welchau-1 oil and gas discovery in Upper Austria are poised to resume after the state’s administrative court ruled in its favour.

The decision follows the company suspending testing operations in early 2025 after four environmental groups objected to the environmental clearances granted by the local Upper Austrian state government authority responsible for nature conservation.

At that time, the groups had secured a high court ruling repealing a previous law allowing operations to be undertaken during the review process for an objection to an environmental clearance.

The Upper Austrian State Administrative Court has now ruled the clearances were granted in accordance with regulations.

It adds that ADX Energy (ASX:ADX) conducted drilling of Welchau-1 during the first quarter of 2024 and the testing activities to date conscientiously, safely – based on applicable laws – and in compliance with all the conditions of the permits granted in November 2023.

This ruling in the company’s favour is based on strong public interest in Austria for finding and exploiting new domestic natural gas deposits to meet demand and reduce or eliminate reliance on Russian gas and expensive imported liquefied natural gas.

“The Board of ADX welcomes the decision by the Upper Austrian State Administrative Court,” executive chairman Ian Tchacos said.

“The decision is not only important for further testing and exploration operations at Welchau, it is a very positive indication of the ongoing support for gas exploration due to the strong public interest for securing clean domestic natural gas reserves in Austria.”

Further testing to come

Welchau-1 had intersected four intervals with oil and gas indications but was only able to test one interval before the groups filed their objections.

The court’s ruling has paved the way for up to three remaining  intervals to be tested during the winter months from October 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, in accordance with the conditions of the environmental clearances.

It also places the company in a strong position to obtain the necessary permits for further exploration drilling including the deepening of Welchau-1 to access the Welchau Deep prospect.

While originally drilled to test a best technical prospective resource of 807 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of gas, data recovered from Welchau-1 indicates it is a high gravity (43.6 degrees API) light oil with associated gas rather than a liquids-rich gas that was originally predicted prior to drilling.

This led the company to revise in late 2024 the best estimate prospective resource to 46 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) with a mean estimate of 85MMboe.

ADX’s immediate forward plan is to conduct fluid sampling of the Reifling formation which was perforated prior to suspension of testing operations.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.