Recent drilling activity shows glimmers of hope but underscores how little has been done in recent years. The first offshore hydrocarbon exploration well since 2023 – Chevron’s Deep 1 and Dino South 1 – was drilled only in May 2025. In November, ConocoPhillips, alongside 3D Energi and Korea National Oil Corporation, spudded its first well under the Otway Basin Program near shores of Victoria province (53 km offshore from Port Campbell, 12 km from existing gas production wells), a government-funded initiativ ...