Esso Bass Well Drilling Summary and Geological Report for Bass Basin, Tasmania

A 1965 drilling operation by Esso Exploration Australia Inc. in the offshore Bass Basin, about 88 miles east of King Island. The report details the Esso Bass No. 1 well, which reached a total depth of 7717 feet and was plugged and abandoned after a full program of logging and coring. It was designed to gain stratigraphic information on the Tertiary and Mesozoic sections and test the petroleum potential of a postulated Miocene reef anomaly.

Use Cases

• Historical analysis of offshore drilling operations based on the detailed spud and completion dates.
• Stratigraphic study of the Bass Basin based on the described Tertiary and Mesozoic sedimentary sections.
• Assessment of historical petroleum exploration targets based on the postulated Miocene reef-type anomaly.
• Research into well logging and coring programs from the 1960s based on the described data collection.

Strengths

• Report includes specific operational dates (spudded 21 July 1965, reached depth 8 September 1965).
• Describes a targeted geological objective to test a specific Miocene reef anomaly.
• Provides a geographic context, placing the well about 88 miles east of King Island in the Bass Basin.

Limitations

• Data is presented in report format (PDF/HTML); structured tabular data is unavailable.
• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred from the text.
• Freshness should be verified; the last updated metadata is 2026-04-30, but the underlying data is from 1965.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Drilling, logging, and coring operations conducted for Esso Exploration and Production Australia Inc.

Time Range

1965 (specific drilling operations from July to September 1965)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:29:33.349917; the underlying data is historical from 1965.

Geography

Offshore Bass Basin, Tasmanian waters, approximately 88 miles east of King Island.