The traditional model of hydrocarbon exploration has transitioned in much of North America, replaced by exploitation of known shale and tight resources. For shale players, exploration is seen as more risky, expensive, and slow than pursuing resource play.

Classic geochemical methods, reliant on sample collection and lab analysis, can’t keep up with the need for real-time decision-making. Helium—a light, inert, and upwardly mobile gas—offers potential as an indicator of subsurface resources, but its volatile nature makes it difficult to measure accurately and reliably using conventional approaches.

Helium, when measured digitally and interpreted with AI, can provide a new high quality and reliable signal for the presence of valuable subsurface resources, reducing costs, time, and risk.

In this episode, Denis Krysanov, founder of Heologic, explains how helium-based digital exploration can help identify oil, gas, lithium, geothermal energy, and even natural hydrogen deposits. By capturing helium anomalies in real-time, and layering them with AI and geoscience data, Heologic creates a digital twin of subsurface conditions. With field-proven success from Argentina to Malaysia, this technique has already delivered remarkable predictive power, improving hit rates and opening new plays.

Denis Krysanov is the founder and CEO of Heologic, a geoscience innovation company pioneering helium-based exploration. With over two decades of experience at the intersection of automation, robotics, and energy systems, Denis combines technical depth with entrepreneurial leadership. His career began in offshore oil and gas technology in Finland, and has since expanded globally with breakthrough applications in digital geochemistry, particularly in helium sensing and AI integration. Heologic now operates across multiple continents and energy sectors, working with companies such as Petronas and YPF.

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The global upstream oil and gas sector is confronting a mounting crisis—access to capital. For over a decade, international producers, especially small- and mid-cap firms, have faced shrinking pools of funding as banks exit the space and public equity markets falter. Traditional sources of capital have dwindled, leaving many promising ventures stranded without the financial fuel they need to grow.

As capital constraints tighten, the sector’s self-depleting business model—where every produced barrel reduces tomorrow’s inventory—becomes unsustainable. The result? A looming risk of supply shortfalls, price shocks, and widening energy inequity, especially in underdeveloped economies. With traditional financing off the table, how can energy producers bridge this capital chasm?

In this episode, I sit down with Richard Naden, a seasoned executive and co-founder of Atlas Energy, to explore a breakthrough model inspired by royalty and streaming structures from mining and North American energy. Richard shares how Atlas provides not only innovative capital but also operational and technical expertise to its partners, creating an aligned and scalable funding approach. With a lean asset-light model, heavy on analytics and trust in data, Atlas aims to build a multi-billion dollar portfolio that could reshape how energy projects are financed around the world.

Richard Naden is a senior executive with Atlas Energy Corp., bringing nearly four decades of experience in engineering, operations, acquisitions, and executive leadership roles in the global energy industry. Raised on the gas fields of Alberta and trained as a mechanical engineer, Richard’s international career has spanned the Americas, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. His latest venture, Atlas Energy, combines his depth of industry knowledge with a passion for innovation and sustainable energy finance.

atlas-corp.ca

rwnaden@gmail.com

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I speak regularly on these topics. Book a call to discuss your event.

The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice.