Oil-boring Operations at Gishorne.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 207, 3 September 1886, Page 3

Oil-boring Operations at Gishorne.

*. The enterprise displayed by the South Pacific Petroleum Company in the prosecution of its labours for the discovery of Oilsprings at G iabor no bids fair to be crowned with complete success ere long. At the annual meeting held recently in Sydney tbe following was laid before the assembled shareholders: — " Gentlemen, —Your directors have much pleasure in informing you that at a depth of 1,140 feet a band of payable oil sand has been reached, which Mr Weaver, the contractor, estimates will, yield, as at present (the bore being only one foot into tho sand), from 50 barrele (2,000 gallons) per day, and that when aaother 6 or 10 feet is bored the yield may be large. Further operations have been suspended until tbe arrival of tho necessary appliances for pumping, and tanks for storage of oil, which have been ordered from San Francisco. A supply of 41-inch drive pipe is also being procured, this latter being required to case the bore some 40 feet between tho bottom _f the 6 inch pipe and tho sand etrata, to shut off the caving, which has been troublesome. The oil tanks ordered are tho ones usually used in America, and havo a total capacity of 1,000 barrels (40,000 gallons), which your directors deem sufficient to demonstate the permanency of the supply. Pumping should commence early in November.— .ours faithfully, William Fleming, Chairman." It is significant of the confidence felt by experienced men in the ground that the American driller who contracts with the Company has himself acquired a block of oil-bearing country close to the Company's property, and that he is also the largest shareholder in the Company. Mr G. Stubbs, of Gisborn6, informs us that the Southern Cross bore is now down 1,325 feet, and that the lower Btrata are much the same as those in Pennsylvania. Shale 300 feet thick has been passed through, sandstone 124 feet thick, and other rocks. Gas was more abundant and powerful at a depth of 1,200 feet than at the surface, thus indicating that the oil from which it proceeds i 3 being approached. The Company are simply burning the gas now for waste, and they have no appliances for using it in the boiler. Petroleum was met with at a depth of 1,224 feet.