Australian oil and gas company 3D Energi has announced updates on ongoing drilling at the Essington-1 gas exploration well in the Otway Basin, Victoria.

The well is located within the VIC/P79 exploration permit, around 55km offshore from Port Campbell.

The Essington-1 well has reached 1,736m of measured depth below rotary table (MDRT) and 1,704m of true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS) after nine days of drilling.

The current hole size is 12¼in in the intermediate section within the Paaratte Formation. The crew is now preparing to install 9⅝in casing.

The next phase will involve drilling an 8½in hole through the reservoir section to reach the planned total depth of around 2,650m TVDSS.

Subject to operational factors, the well is expected to take around 32 days to drill to total depth.

3D Energi stated: “At the time of this announcement, operations are running safely and smoothly, with no reported accidents or incidents.”

3D Energi owns a 20% equity interest in the project, alongside ConocoPhillips Australia with 51% and Korea National Oil Company with the remaining 29%.

3D Energi and ConocoPhillips commenced drilling at the Essington-1 well site on 1 November 2025 using the Transocean Equinox rig.

The drilling is part of the Otway exploration drilling programme, which aims to identify natural gas reserves for the East Coast market.

The Essington-1 well targets a combined 262 billion cubic feet (bcf) of mean prospective gas resources in the Waarre C and Waarre A reservoirs.

Waarre C reservoir lies at a depth of around 2,240m TVDSS, contains an estimated 76bcf of resources and has a 76% chance of success.

Waarre A, the primary target, lies at approximately 2,470m TVDSS, with estimated resources of 186bcf and a 68% chance of success.

"3D Energi announces update on Essington-1 gas well operations" was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.

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