The company starting trading at 25.5c – a 5.5c increase on the issue price.

It closed slightly down at 23.5c and reopened this morning at 25c.

The 40 million share-offer at 20 cents each was oversubscribed, raising $8 million to fund White Sands' exploration program.

White Sands plans to capitalise on the drill rig shortage, by offering use of its state-of-the-art EDM drill rig to explorers in return for stakes in Australian oil and gas exploration tenements.

The company says owning this rig will allow it to drill 15 wells in the next 14 months – a high level of activity for a company its size.

It has already entered farm-in agreements with several exploration companies for drilling programs in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory and is negotiating similar deals in Western Australia.