Fossil Energy – Drilling
Amplitude Energy has announced that drilling has started on the first East Coast Supply Project (ECSP) well offshore Australia, with the Transocean Equinox rig spudding the Elanora-1 on 25 January 2026.
A consortium of Beach Energy, Amplitude Energy, Woodside, and ConocoPhillips is using the Transocean Equinox semisub for drilling activity in the Otway Basin. The rig was transferred from ConocoPhillips to Amplitude on 21 January.
Elanora-1 is an exploration well located in permit VIC/L24 within Commonwealth waters, approximately 6 km south-west of a tie-in point in the existing Casino, Henry, Netherby (CHN) pipeline.
Following completion of the Elanora-1 programme, the well will be plugged, and a sidetrack into the Isabella prospect will be drilled, which is expected to take approximately 14-18 further days. Isabella lies immediately adjacent to Elanora, also in the VIC/L24 permit.
Amplitude stated that, in the event of success in the sidetrack, evaluation of the discovery through logging will be conducted immediately to assess the gas composition and quality of the reservoir.
The sidetrack is planned to be cased and completed with a subsea tree upon success, incorporating a flow test, and then suspended ready for development as part of the ECSP.
