These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

Ten blast holes and ten auger holes were drilled by Territory Enterprises Pty. Ltd. (T.E.P.) between 20/9/66 and 5/10/66, in order to test which type of drill is the most suitable prospecting tool for detecting uranium mineralisation. The project in all took four days to complete.

A.A.O. Winnathoola No. I, located approximately 8 miles north-west of A.A.O. Combarngo No. I, and 22 miles south-east of Roma in Queensland, was drilled by Mines Administration Pty Limited for Associated Australian Oilfields N.L., to a total depth of 5342 feet. Drilling commenced on 1st September, 1961 and was completed on 22nd September, 1961. A full programme of logging, testing, and coring was undertaken. The well penetrated 4919 feet of Mesozoic sediments, 207 feet of Permian sediments, and 216 feet of of sediments of (?) Devonian Timbury Hills Formation. Two drillstem tests were carried out. The first tested the interval 4521 to 4465 feet (basal Jurassic sands) for 120 minutes and yielded a flow of gas at the rate of 616 Mcf/D. The second tested the interval 5342 to 5035 feet (base of Permian) and yielded a trace of gas. The stratigraphic drilling operation at A.A.O. Winnathoola No. 1 was subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959 for the section below the Jurassic Injune Creek Beds to total depth.

Bonaparte No. 1 Well, located approximately 52 miles north-east of Wyndham, in the Bonaparte Gulf Basin of Western Australia, was drilled by Reading and Bates (Australia) Pty Ltd for Alliance Oil Development Australia No Liability to total depth of 10,530 feet. Drilling commenced on 18th July, 1963, was suspended at 10,283 feet on 19th December, 1963, resumed on 25th April, 1964, and was completed on 4th June, 1964. A full programme of logging, coring, and testing was undertaken. The well penetrated the Upper Carboniferous Point Spring Sandstone from surface to 638 feet; the Lower Carboniferous Tanmurra Formation to 1630 feet, and Milligans Beds to 7480 feet; the Lower Carboniferous to Upper Devonian Burt Range Formation Equivalent to 9492 feet; and the Upper Devonian Cockatoo Sandstone Equivalent to 10,530 feet, total depth. An angular unconformity occurred at the base of the Milligans Beds. Of the twenty drillstem tests conducted during the drilling operation, three yielded fresh water from the Tanmurra Formation, and one yielded gas-cut salt water from the interval 5627 to 5696 feet in the Milligans Beds. Four tests were misruns, and twelve obtained no recovery other than drilling fluid. The well was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole on 6th June, 1964. The stratigraphic drilling operation at Bonaparte No. 1 Well was subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959-1961, from surface to total depth.

Ooraminna No. 1 Well, located 42 miles south-east of Alice Springs on the Ooraminna Anticline, in the Amadeus Basin of the Northern Territory, was the first oil exploratory test drilled in the Amadeus Basin. The well was drilled by Oil Drilling and Exploration Limited for Exoil (N. T.) pty Ltd, to a total depth of 6107 feet. Drilling commenced on 24th February, 1963 am was completed on 5th June, 1963. A full programme of logging, coring, and testing was undertaken. The well spudded in the Cambrian Arumbera Sandstone and entered the Upper Proterozoic Pertatataka Formation at 1530 feet, the Areyonga Formation at 3734 feet, and the Bitter Springs Formation at 4406 feet. Drilling stopped at 6107 feet in evaporites of the Bitter Springs Formation. Four drillstem tests were run over intervals between 3761 and 3950 feet. The only successful test was DST. No. 4, over the interval 3761 to 3906 feet in the Areyonga Formation, when a flow of gas (84.2% methane) at a rate of 12,000 cubic feet per day was measured. Salt was foum in the Bitter Springs Formation, in the bottom 162 feet of the hole. The stratigraphic drilling operation at Ooraminna No. 1 was subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959-1961, from surface to total depth.

Southwest Bairnsdale No. 1 Well was located about 15 miles west-south-west of Bairnsdale, in the Gippsland Basin of Victoria. The well was drilled by Reading and Bates (Australia) pty Ltd for Woodside (Lakes Entrance) Oil Company No Liability and Arco Limited, to total depth of 3926 feet. Drilling commenced on 8th January, 1963 and was completed on 14th February, 1963. A full programme of coring and logging was undertaken. The objectives of the drilling operation were to obtain stratigraphic data, and to test the hydrocarbon potential of the pre-Tertiary sediments by a well favourably situated to intersect pinch-out zones in the expected Upper Devonian-Lower Carboniferous sequence occurring below a thin Tertiary cover. The well achieved its objectives; Tertiary sediments were penetrated from surface to 1408 feet, Lower Carboniferous-Upper Davonian non-marine sediments to 3806 feet, and pre-Upper Devonian biotite granite to total depth at 3926 feet. Middle Devonian marine sediments, which are exposed in the highlands 25 miles north of the well, were not encountered. Basal Tertiary gravels, although having good porosity and permeability, contained only freshwater. The Lower Carboniferous-Upper Devonian sandstones are well cemented and have very little porosity or permeability. No shows of hydrocarbons were found in the well. One formation test was made over the interval 2522 to 2559 feet after a small quantity of gas was recorded by the gas detector. The test recovered only 120 feet of drilling mud anl;i the flowing pressures recorded were very low. The well was later plugged and abandoned as a dry hole. The off-structure drilling operation at SouthwestBairnsdale No. 1 was subsidized under the Petroleum search Subsidy Act 1959-1961, from surface to total depth.

Esso Gippsland Shelf No. I, Australia's first offshore well, was drilled by Esso Exploration Australia, Inc., in the Gippsland Basin, about sixteen miles off the Ninety Mile Beach, south-eastern Victoria. Gippsland Shelf No. 1 was spudded on 27th December, 1964, reached a total depth of 8701 feet on 31st May, 1965, and was completed as a suspended gas well on 5th June, 1965. The 268-foot drilling vessel "Glomar III" owned and operated by Global Marine Australasia pty Ltd was used to drill the well. The well penetrated a Tertiary section to 5378 feet and an Upper Cretaceous section from 5378 feet to 8701 feet, total depth. 353 feet of gas column was logged in the top of the Eocene Latrobe Valley Coal Measures, which proved to be productive by subsequent tests. Minor hydrocarbon shows in the Upper Cretaceous section are considered to be noncommercial. Three production tests were made through perforations opposite sandstones in the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures; one to confirm the gas-water contact and two for reservoir evaluation. On the first and lowermost test from 3809 to 3814 feet the well flowed gas at the maximum rate of 1.63 MMcf/D and fresh water at the rate of 750 barrels a day. On the other tests the maximum flow rates were 6.85 MMcf/D plus 75 barrels of consensate a day, and 5.36 MMcf/D plus 79 barrels of condensate a day. The well was the first offshore discovery in Australia, and gave the first significant production from the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures. It was also the first occurrence of a porous sandstone member in the Gippsland Limestone; the first occurrence of porous sandstone members in the Upper Cretaceous section; and the first occurrence of a Mesozoic section younger than the Strzelecki Group in the Gippsland Basin. A new and unknown sandstone section some 369 feet thick was encountered in the lower part of the Gippsland Limestone. The areal extent of this section is as yet unknown. Otherwise the lithology of the Tertiary sequence was as expected. The stratigraphic drilling operation at Esso Gippsland Shelf No. 1 was subidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959-1964, from surface to total depth.