PETRATHERM wants to differentiate itself from other geothermal explorers as it moves toward becoming a working electricity supplier.
Announcing an upgraded resource statement for the flagship Paralana project, Petratherm managing director Terry Kallis said yesterday the company had the right projects, partners and people to deliver results soonest.
After tests, Paralana's potential has been independently assessed, recording an inaugural "measured" resource and with almost half of the total 38,000 petajoules resource moving into the higher confidence "indicated" bracket from the "inferred" category.
The upgrade was a major step forward for Petratherm and partners Beach Energy and TRUenergy, Mr Kallis said.
"It is estimated we have enough geothermal resource potential for about 1300 megawatts of power generation for 30 years, which equates to more than one-third of South Australia's power use," he said.
Mr Kallis told the company's annual meeting the shareholder base had expanded by 10 per cent to more than 3800 investors in the past year.
However, the market was still tending to move Petratherm's share price in parallel with other geothermal stocks.
He expected 2012 to be a watershed.
"We're going to start seeing some differentiation between the offerings," he said. "And I intend to differentiate Petratherm very strongly."
Petratherm aims to drill its third deep well - the production well - in mid-2012 and be able to supply electricity to the Beverley uranium mine in 2013.
Chairman Derek Carter said Petratherm was "streets ahead" and "we are the leading geothermal company in Australia".
Mr Carter welcomed the Federal Government's carbon tax and associated funding for the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Petratherm stood to benefit from the $13 billion funding over 10 years now available as well as improvements in research tax rebates.
PTR Price at posting:
9.1¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
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