Beach Energy said its new Enterprise gas field would add 97 petajoules of new gas reserves to the state's gas supply.

A petajoule is enough to fuel demand from a regional city like Warrnambool for a year.

Beach Energy managing director Matt Kay said it will shore up gas shortfalls anticipated in the next five years.

"The Enterprise discovery helps to ensure a continued pipeline of gas to the Otway Gas Plant - a key supplier to the east coast gas market," Mr Kay said.

"The liquids content in the field is more than double our pre-drill expectation, significantly increasing the value of the discovery.

"Ultimately, Beach's investment in the region with our joint venture participant is helping to meet the shortfall in supply that is forecast for the east coast gas market in the near future, as well as providing an economic boost to the region and creating jobs through the supply chain."

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160 petajoules of gas was discovered in the Enterprise well, made up of Beach's share of 97 petajoules and the company's joint venture partner O.G. Energy's other share of 63 petajoules.

Beach will aim to add to the success of the Enterprise field after receiving approval to drill up to six development wells in the Otway Basin.

Drilling is set to start on the Artisan 1 well in the coming days on a rig currently sitting around 35 kilometres out from Port Campbell.

The rig can be seen on the horizon from the Great Ocean Road.

Over the next 12 to 18 months that rig will move around 80 kilometres from Port Campbell.

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Beach will commence the program before October 31, 2022 and expects that it will take up to 22 months to complete.

Drilling, completion and well testing is expected to take between 64-90 days per well, depending not the final work program and potential operational delays. Well abandonment activities are estimated to 30 days per well.

The rig is owned by American company Diamond Offshore Drilling, which drill on Beach's behalf.

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Beach also plans to investigate further exploration opportunities identified in the vicinity of the Enterprise gas field, with plans to utilise the existing Enterprise 1 drill pad, which have been de-risked by the Enterprise success.

Beach's existing Otway production infrastructure includes an offshore platform and subsea production infrastructure, onshore well satellite facilities and onshore gas processing, conditioning and compression facilities.

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