X-RAY OF THE EARTH

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 208, 3 September 1929, Page 9

X-RAY OF THE EARTH

IN SEARCH POR OIL.

OMATA FIELD DEVELOPMENT,

BORING TO COMMENCE SOON.

The approximate cost to Australia and New Zealand of oil imports is £14,000,000 a year, so the development of oil fields is really a national concern to Australia and New Zealand, said' Mr. A. E. Thomas, manager of Coal-Oil (New Zealand), Limited, which has employed scientific methods of research in its investigation of prospective oil fields in New Zealand, on his arrival in Auckland by the Ulimaroa this morning.

Mr. A. E. Thomas.

"Oilre is the first company in Australasia to adopt scientific methods of research to the making of investigations for oil," said Mr. Thomas. "Previously boring has been carried out purely on geological reports, but, in our case we have conducted geophysic research, or in other words, an X-ray of the earth before commencing operations. We have been carrying on investigations for two years, and boring is about to be commenced at Omata, near New Plymouth, where the geophysic conditions are such that it is possible to obtain oil in commercial quantities. Dr. Leon Bossard", of Switzerland, the company's field geologist and geological adviser, reporting on the Omata field, states that it can be considered now as an established oil field. The oil seems to be concentrated in several independent layers of fine-grained porous sandstone, separated from each other by impervious mudstone, which forms the capping and the bottom of the oil horizons. The sandstone layers mean the probability of repeated success in the same bore, which adds considerably to the merits of a boring enterprise in the area.

"The geophysicist's investigations have definitely located oil accumulations at Omata, where the geological conditions are most favourable for obtaining oil in commercial quantities. For the purpose of boring, Mr. D. J. Tynan has been specially brought from America to control operations, and he will also have the services of other expert drillers. The derrick, which is 120 ft high, has been erected at Omata No. 1 field, and a considerable portion of the drill machinery lias already-been installed. The company has based its conclusions concerning the possibilities of the field on the latest possible methods and is confident of success."

Mr. Thomas said that the company also held coal lands covering an acreage of 1500 acres in the Paparoa ranges,

near Westport. The coal available is estimated at 15,000,000 tons and is of

high-grade bituminous quality. The company's consulting mining engineers had investigated the property and reported that coal was everywhere at comparatively shallow depths, nowhere exceeding a few hundred feet over a moderate area. It would be possible to mine the fields with "open cuts." A further field was owned at Mount Arthur, near Dannevirke, v and the geophysicists would complete their investigations of it by the end of October.