Pantheon raises $10M to resume Dubhe-1 testing on North Slope

Pantheon Resources plc announced on January 15 that it had raised $10 million of new capital through a conditional placing of ordinary shares priced at 7.0 pence each to finance near-term appraisal work on the Ahpun and Kodiak projects on Alaska’s North Slope. The company said the proceeds will support resumption of testing at the Dubhe-1 well, including acquisition and analysis of new and existing well data and planning for a cost-effective, productivity-enhancing flow testing program.

The funds are explicitly earmarked for appraisal and working capital, not full field development. Pantheon framed the Dubhe-1 testing as a step toward commercializing an estimated ~282 million barrel liquid contingent (2C) resource in the Shelf Margin Deltaic reservoir and as support for a greater-than-500 million barrel 2C inventory across the Greater Ahpun Area. The company also tied the appraisal work to progress on gas offtake precedent agreements with the State of Alaska, signaling a potential pathway for future gas commercialization and state-level commitments.

For North Slope Borough residents the announcement matters on multiple fronts. The Ahpun and Kodiak projects sit close to existing pipeline and transportation infrastructure, which reduces the logistical footprint of appraisal activities and can lower unit costs compared with more remote prospects. Near-term activity around Dubhe-1 could generate local jobs for service crews, transport operators and contractors during testing phases, and it could increase short-term demand for lodging, fuel and supply chain services in nearby communities.

Financially, the placing at 7.0 pence per share will dilute existing equity while providing short-term liquidity to advance technical work. Appraisal testing, data analysis and flow testing are necessary to move contingent resources toward commercial reserves; those steps typically precede far larger capital commitments for development and production. Market investors and local stakeholders should view this $10 million raise as focused on de-risking and information gathering rather than as funding for full-scale development.

Policy implications include the potential for gas offtake agreements with the State of Alaska to shape how any recovered gas is handled—whether prioritized for in-state use, export, or pipeline sale. Any move from 2C contingent resources to commercial production will involve state permitting, fiscal terms and environmental review, each with direct consequences for borough revenue through royalties, production taxes and lease income.

What comes next is a sequence of technical deliverables: new and legacy data review, preparation of testing procedures and resumption of flow testing at Dubhe-1. Those results will determine whether the identified contingent resources can be converted to commercially viable reserves and, if so, whether the North Slope Borough will see sustained job growth and revenue from those operations.