Australia's First Offshore Well Drilling Report

Esso Gippsland Shelf No. 1 was Australia's first offshore well, drilled in 1964-1965 to a total depth of 8701 feet. The report details the well's stratigraphy, including a 353-foot gas column in the Eocene Latrobe Valley Coal Measures, and results from three production tests measuring gas and water flow rates.

Use Cases

• Analyze the stratigraphic column, including the Tertiary section to 5378 feet and Upper Cretaceous section to 8701 feet, for basin modeling.
• Study production test results, such as gas flow rates up to 6.85 MMcf/D and condensate volumes, for reservoir evaluation.
• Investigate the 369-foot thick sandstone section encountered in the Gippsland Limestone to assess new geological formations.
• Examine the 353-foot gas column logged in the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures for hydrocarbon potential assessment.

Strengths

• Provides detailed technical specifications, including a precise total depth of 8701 feet and a 353-foot logged gas column.
• Contains specific production test data with quantified flow rates (e.g., 6.85 MMcf/D gas, 75 barrels condensate per day).
• Documents a historically significant event as Australia's first offshore discovery well.

Limitations

• Data is contained in narrative HTML/PDF reports, not in a structured, machine-readable tabular format.
• Scope is limited to a single well, providing a case study rather than a broader statistical dataset.
• Information is temporally static, covering only the 1964-1965 drilling period with no subsequent updates.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Drilling and geological analysis report from the 1964-1965 operation, subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act.

Time Range

Drilling occurred from December 27, 1964, to June 5, 1965.

Freshness

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Geography

Gippsland Basin, approximately sixteen miles off Ninety Mile Beach, south-eastern Victoria, Australia.