The Sydney-based exploration company, which will offer up to 40 million shares at 20c each, plans to list on the Australian Stock Exchange on May 11.

Up until this point, Red Sky has been privately backed by Canadian investors.

It holds the exclusive Australian licence for the proprietary Sky Hunter airborne geochemical microseep survey technology.

The company aims to prove the suitability of the technique for Australian conditions in its six 100%-owned Darling Basin permits. It also plans to use the technology to lever farm-in agreements in the Cooper and Carnarvon basins.

“We are offering to fly surveys for free in return for the right to farm-in to selected blocks in the areas flown,” a spokesperson has told PetroleumNews.net previously.

“We will then pay our way in subsequent seismic and drilling activity as the normal part of a farm-in deal.”

In its prospectus, Red Sky chairman Klaus Zahnd said 60% of the funds would be spent on a 12-month drilling program across its various Australian assets.

The IPO launch coincides with the selection of Red Sky’s first drilling target on the Rainbird prospect, which has been approved by operator Stuart Petroleum in Cooper Basin permit PEL 93.

In addition to Rainbird-1, Zahnd said the company had selected four more prospects for drilling in PEL 91and PEL 106, which are operated by Great Artesian Oil and Gas, and PEL 110, operated by Beach Petroleum.

“An investment in Red Sky provides exposure to a significant drill-ready inventory located in one of the most prolific and productive onshore hydrocarbon-producing areas in Australia, the South Australian portion of the Cooper Basin,” he said.