Esso Australia Pty Ltd has reached total depth on the first of its two West Barracouta gas wells in Bass Strait, which will bring new gas supplies to the Australian domestic market next year.

The development, located in the VIC/L1 block offshore Victoria, will be tied back to the existing Barracouta infrastructure offshore in Bass Strait, the first offshore field ever discovered in Australia.

With total depth of 1.3 kilometres reached on the first well and the second well almost complete, the company will have West Barracouta gas flowing to the Australian domestic gas market by early 2021.

Nathan Fay, Chairman, ExxonMobil Australia said the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture continues to be a crucial source of gas supply for the nation and is the largest supplier of gas to the eastern Australia market.

“Since drilling the first Bass Strait well in 1965, our operations have delivered more than four billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to Australia.  This is more than half of all the oil ever produced in Australia, and enough gas to power almost every home in Australia for a decade,” he said.

The new project builds on more than $5.5 billion invested by the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture in other recent Victorian projects supplying gas for Australians, including the Kipper Tuna Turrum offshore project and the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant.

ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Australia Pty Ltd operates the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture on behalf of a 50-50 joint venture with BHP Billiton Petroleum (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd and Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd.