NEW ZEALAND OIL.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13737, 19 May 1910, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND OIL.

COMPANY FLOATED IN LONDON.

(FROM OCR OWN* CORIiBSPO_DI2.*T.) , LONDON, April 8,

• A week or two ago! sent you a statement with regard to tho probability that thero would shortly be a boom in oil properties from which New Zealand might expect to reap some considerable, benefit in tho way of capital for the operation of the valuable fields which aro dotted all over tho Dominion. At that timo negotiations were in hand for the capitalisation in London of an extensive area which was held under options by Mr "W. Lissant Clayton, of Gisborne."Tho underwriting of the issuehas now been arrauged, and it is expected that tho flotation, so far as tho ljondon shares aro concerned, will bo completed Avithin the next few days. The comnany will be floated under the title of the New Zealand Oilfields, Ltd., and the capital will amount to £200,000, in two million shares of 2s :'.' eacn. Tho sum of eighty thousand pounds is set apart for working capital. Tho consideration paid by the company for the purchase of tho concossions amounts altogether to £110,750 t which is to bo paid, as usual, partly in cash . and partly iv shares. Tho vendors have asked to be allowed to re_ervo . two hundred thousautl shares for subscription in New Zealand. . Besides tho Loudon board of directors there is to bo a local .board in New Zealand, consisting of not less than three, members, and remunerated at tho same rate as the- London board: Tho company is being formed for tho purpose of investigating and developing forty-four concessions extending over an area of 147,900 acres within a short distance of Gisborne, and all within the county of Cook. There is, a report made by Mr Frank A. Rich, li.Sc, M.A.1.M.E., M.1.M.E.,, for tho original vendors, and another - 1 Iby the celebrated expert Sir Boverton • Redwood and his colleague, Mr V. H. Dalton, who say :— ; "Some of tho many, exudations of petroleum and gas in tho Hawke's Bay di-strict havo been known for more than forty years, and several attempts havo , been made to exploit tho oil-bearing beds of which they attest tho existence. • The failure of these to establish commercial production of oil has resulted from various causes, ignorance being a preponderant clement in all. . Haphazard selection of drilling sites, with, littlo or no perception of tho naturo or ' structure of tho beds to bo penetrated or of the probable depth to oil-bearing rock, if present* unsuitability to local conditions of the system of work adopted; inadequacy or inferiority of material used; lack of technical skill to combat difficulties encountered, and want of knowledge in other directions, have courted (and generally . won) failure in oven tho richest fields. It is already known from published and unpublished reports that several wellmarked anti-chnial linos traverse tho whole region, more or less, jn a northeasterly direction, but curving to and fro, and doubtless varying also in degree from sharp fold to slight undulation.' From our goneral knowledge of the district wo aro of, opinion that, with careful selection of tho sites for tho wells proposed to bo drilled, there is a good prospe-t of finding petroleum in. commercial quantities." Sir Boverton Redwood lias consented to act as technical adviser to tho company. In a report on a sample of oil from the "Waitangi bore, which had been submitted to him for analysis, Sir Boverton remarked: —*'From particulars which havo from-timo to time been* placed before mc, I am hopeful that Now Zealand will become an important, contributor to tho petroleum - supplies of the Empire under the British flag. Tlie '-Financial Times" of yesterday - said:—"Another attempt to develop the petroleum resources of tlie Empire materialises to-day in tho inception oF , the New Zealand, oilfields. ... Tho prospectus lays great stress on tho importance of an' adequate oil supply for the Empire, and drawq attention to tho articles that, havo appeared in tho Press on this subject of late. "These matters, however, arc. common ■ know- -. ledge, as is also the fact that there are " undoubtedly Marge potential sources'of' > supply in Now Zealand. . . ,Th&t the urea is easily accessible for trams- - port is, however, _ tangible fact. Some "' \ twenty of the concessions -are subject to termination on sis months' -notice . if work has not been commenced, but' as this notice has not been given it is ' concluded thot tho concessions will hot ' In. terminated. It is not made clear, however j whether work has he-en com- , • mencod or not. . . . The success of •'. the company must, of course; depend" upon whether tho production of oil canVbe realised to an extent adequate to , placing the undertaking on a sufficient- . ly remunerative basis, and the prospec* ( - .tvs is not conclusive in that -respect.'-* / The •'Financial News" and 'the. " "Financier" content themselves .' with merely quoting tho prospectus, and-the ' Morning Post" says "the venture xa , frankly speculative." The "Daily Ex-. press" thinks the company is' forimhato in that Sir Boverton .Redwood has oon--sented to act as technical adviser. . In yesterday's -'Pinancier" there •wa»*'7 a long article relating to New Zealand ■ ■ oil in general, and the Taranaki field in" particular. It Bays there are abundant • signs that in New. Zealand thero eii-ts ono of the most important deposits of , petroleum in tho British Empire. After * mentioning that tho Admiralty .is '"■ watching events very.closely in New* - Zealand with respect to iho oil discoveries, tho article concludes.:—"Con- * '. sidcring the investigations which havo " - been made, the character of the ■---, samples, and also tho fact that several '-> email companies are procuring oil in ■ r--omroer-ial quantities, it "ia quite cvi- \ dent tfiat this Taranaki oilfield may .■* *" easily become the source of a great in- •■•- dustry of va_t importance to. tho colony ' * and an "Imperial asset cf no small ooitsequence."