MORE HOPEFUL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 4

MORE HOPEFUL.

OIL BORING OPERATIONS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) GISBORNE. Wednesday. Much better pleased with the outlook at Totangi No. 1 site, where drilling has been continued, officers of the New Zealand Petroleum Company, Limited, are now hopeful that they may be able to correct the deflection of the hole, which has been a source of trouble to the company since mid-December. . It was learned to-day that though early indications as to the setting of special cement poured into the well a week ago were unsatisfactory, the drill had encountered greater resistance at a greater depth, and apparently the cement has set much harder at the lower level, and if thia improvement continues immediate difficulties may be disposed of within a few days. In the latest effort to cement the hole the depth has been reduced to less than 1500 feet, nearly 700 feet of drilling being sacrificed for the time being. The drill has now reached 1840 feet, and is still above the point at "which the deflection previously became serious. The question now to be settled is wherther the setting of the cement is hard enough at the trouble-spot to force th,e drill out of the old course and back to vertical. Exploration is proceeding cautiously, the hole being advanced by stages with a drilling bit of small diameter, and then reamed out to the required diameter by a larger bit.