QUEST FOR OIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 128, 1 June 1934, Page 10

QUEST FOR OIL.

POVERTY BAY AREA.

NO DEFINITE CONCLUSIONS.

GEOLOGIST'S LIMITATIONS. It is not possible to say definitely whether oil is present in commercial quantities in the Poverty Bay district, according to Dr. Eugene Jablonski, the leader of a party of five geologists who* have just completed a 20 months' survey of the oil possibilities of that district. Dr. Jablonski is a permanent geologist retained by the Vacuum Oil (Australia) Proprietary, Limited, on whose behalf tho survey was made. He returned to Auckland thi.s morning and sails by the Maripoea to-morrow. From the time when operations were begun, in September, 1932, said Dr. Jablonski, the whole area between East Cape and Hawke's Bay lias been covered. Tho nbject- was to appraise the poeuibilities of individual .structures, as it was known the world over that oil was found in structural domes and folds. Those were geological terms to describe tho different forme into which the earth strata had been shaped by movements in the earth cruet.

In that connection, the doctor emphasised tho fact that field work such as his party had undertaken could only determine certain factors in regard to possible production of oil from a given district. Ho could not say that the oil wnfl there from tho data he had gathered. "If I say that there is oil in commercial quantities," he added, "that would bo a. mie-etatcmeut, because no geological data can tell of the presence of oil with certainty. If, oft the other hand, I were to say there was no oil there, that would be more of a misstatement, for the same reason." Recommendations Only. It was necessary to cover a very large area before a real experience of the country was gained. "We have done our best to map these structures to which I referred, and also to appraise tho district's oil potentialities, upon which recommendations will bo made. All wo can do is to present our maps, and to point to the places where boring would have the best chance. Ours, however, is not the last word. Specialists will discuss our findings before the company makes any decision." Ho would put his iindings and his samples bofore his principals, and they would then go into the whole matter. Generally, said Dr. Jablonski, the layman was too optimistic of the power of the geologist to tell whether there was oil in New Zealand, or in any country. In reality to find that out, it was necessary to gamble, and gambling was sometimes an expensive matter. Sometimes country looked favourable from the point of* tho geologist, but subsequent drilling might prove it to be barren. Many cases had becrj known where oil had* been found without the aid of tho geologist. However, the majority of fields in America, and throughout the world, had been the result of very tedious and extensive geological exploration. Others in the party were Mr. C. St. J. Brcniner and Mr. M. Steineke, from America; Mr. N. Osborno, of Australia; and Dr. H. J. Finlay, of Dunedin. The first two are returning with Dr. Jablonski to-morrow.