U.S. shale leaders have pricing underway for an IPO of Australian shale-gas explorer Tamboran Resources Corp. in a raise estimated at up to $202 million.

The Sydney-based operator reported June 17 that the 6.5-million-share offering price is expected to be between $24 and $27 per share. In a 30-day option, underwriters may sell an additional 975,000 shares, it added.

The stock is to trade as TBN on the NYSE. Joint book-running managers are BofA Securities, Citigroup and RBC Capital Markets. Co-managers are Johnson Rice & Co. and Piper Sandler.

According to Tamboran’s S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company is chaired by Dick Stoneburner, co-leader of the Haynesville and Eagle Ford shale discoveries.

Its largest shareholder is Bryan Sheffield, founder of Permian shale developer Parsley Energy Inc., which he sold in 2021 for $7.6 billion.

In addition to Sheffield, Tamboran’s investors include U.S. shale pressure-pumper Liberty Energy Inc., which had a frac spread on its way to the Australian play at press time, according to Tamboran and Liberty filings with the SEC.

Another investor, U.S. shale rig operator Helmerich & Payne Inc., has a FlexRig3 drilling for Tamboran on location south of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Tamboran holds 4.7 million contiguous gross acres in the targeted Beetaloo Basin; net, 1.9 million acres. The Beetaloo is in north-central Australia south of Darwin.

The target, the Middle Velkerri B formation, is at more than 6,000 ft. Core, logs and other data indicate it is similar to the Marcellus Shale in its geophysical properties, according to Tamboran’s S-1.

Tamboran has drilled six appraisal wells in the leasehold.

Its most recent, Shenandoah South #1H, had a 30-day IP of 3.2 MMcf/d from a 1,644-ft section of lateral completed in 10 stages. The 60-day flow was 3.0 MMcf/d; the 90-day flow, 2.9 MMcf/d, according to the S-1.

Normalized for a 10,000-ft lateral, the 30-day flow is equivalent to 19.5 MMcf/d, Tamboran reported in the S-1.

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