Sale No. 40, the first oil and gas lease sale by the U.S. Government for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, was held on August 17, 1976. The tracts that were offered included 876,750 acres on the Baltimore Canyon Trough area of the Mid-Atlantic shelf off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware. About one year before the proposed date of the sale, Ocean Production Company, the operator for a group of petroleum companies forming the Continental Offshore Strati graphic Test (COST) Group, applied for a permit to drill a deep strati graphic test well to a total depth of 16,000 feet at a site adjacent to the sale area. COST wells had been drilled in the Gulf of Mexico and others were planned for the Southern California and Gulf of Alaska Outer Continental Shelf areas before lease sales that were held for these areas earlier in 1976. Like other COST wells, the Mid-Atlantic well was drilled "off structure" away from any potential petroleum-bearing feature so that there would be a minimal chance of encountering oil and gas while obtaining information on the regional stratigraphy, reservoir beds, and hydrocarbon potential. The geologic data obtained from this first well in the Mid-Atlantic shelf area were extremely useful in evaluating structural interpretations derived from geophysical survey data, for determining the ages of the sediments drilled, and for estimating the potential of the penetrated rocks to generate and accumulate hydrocarbons. Approval for the test well included a list of requirements for the operator that specified procedures for the drilling program, COST group participation, and disclosure of information obtained. This open-file report has been written in compliance with Stipulation No. 4, that all information from the approved program be made available for public disclosure by the U.S. Geological Survey 60 days after the first Federal lease was issued within 50 miles of the drill site. Of the 101 tracts receiving bids in Sale No. 40, 82 were less than 50 miles from the well and the closest block was less than 2 miles away. The summary of information presented here is based mainly on electric logs, drill cuttings, and cores which may be inspected at the Eastern Region Office of the Conservation Division,