Esso Gippsland Shelf No 1: Australia's First Offshore Discovery

Esso Gippsland Shelf No. 1 was Australia's first offshore well, drilled in the Gippsland Basin off Victoria. The dataset contains a detailed historical report on the well's drilling dates, geological formations penetrated, and production test results. It documents the first significant production from the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures and other geological firsts for the region.

Use Cases

• Historical analysis of drilling and completion dates (spudded 27 Dec 1964, TD 31 May 1965)
• Stratigraphic study based on described Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous section depths
• Reservoir evaluation referencing gas flow rates (e.g., 6.85 MMcf/D) and condensate yields from production tests
• Assessing the significance of first occurrences, such as porous sandstone in the Gippsland Limestone

Strengths

• Provides specific, factual drilling and test data (e.g., total depth of 8701 feet, gas column of 353 feet)
• Documents a landmark event with multiple 'firsts' for Australian petroleum geology
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au signals official recognition and archival importance

Limitations

• Core data structure (e.g., column names) is unknown, limiting machine-readability
• Dataset size, row count, and specific license information are not provided
• The description appears truncated ('was as ex') and the primary format is a PDF/HTML report

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Likely a digitized historical well report or publication

Time Range

1964-1965 (drilling and testing period)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 13:48:00.161080

Geography

Gippsland Basin, approximately sixteen miles off Ninety Mile Beach, Victoria, Australia