The Poolowanna oil field in this section of the
Simpson Desert was explored in the 1960s with 3 numbered drill wells in close vicinity here. Poolowanna 1 & 3 lie alongside the track.
The oil is close to the surface but extracting it from
the desert will always be the commercially limiting cost factor.
Well #3 was spudded on 5th March 1989 and took 4 weeks to reach 8823 feet or 2689 metres. Now used to monitor
water quality in the Great Artesian Basin.