Esso Gippsland Shelf No. 1, Australia's first offshore well, was drilled to a total depth of 8,701 feet between December 1964 and June 1965. The well, drilled by Esso Exploration Australia, Inc., discovered a 353-foot gas column in the Eocene Latrobe Valley Coal Measures and was completed as a suspended gas well. Three production tests were conducted, with maximum flow rates reaching 6.85 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Use Cases
- Study the stratigraphy of the Gippsland Basin based on the described Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous sections.
- Analyze early offshore drilling operations in Australia based on the detailed timeline and vessel information.
- Model hydrocarbon potential based on the gas column measurements and production test results.
- Research historical energy exploration subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act.
Strengths
- Description provides precise numerical details, including total depth (8,701 feet), drilling dates, and gas flow rates (up to 6.85 MMcf/D).
- Contains specific geological context, such as the thickness of the gas column (353 feet) and the identification of a new 369-foot sandstone section.
- Documents a historically significant event as Australia's first offshore discovery.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data files are in HTML and PDF formats, which may require parsing to extract structured data.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Drilling and logging operation by Esso Exploration Australia, Inc., subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act.
- Time Range
- Drilling occurred from December 27, 1964, to June 5, 1965.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-16 22:25:33.133204; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Gippsland Basin, approximately sixteen miles off Ninety Mile Beach, south-eastern Victoria, Australia.