SEARCH FOR OIL.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18183, 20 September 1924, Page 15

SEARCH FOR OIL.

'taranaki prospects.

VIEWS ON VOLCANIC

ACTION

{SSZCIAL 10 "TEX rJLSM.")

AUCKLAND, September 13. A great deal c? interest has been mused in Auckland financial and inrtstment circles by the declared opinion «f the Prime Minister in the House of jgjjreaeiitatives on Thursday tnat lie vu not so sanguine as formerly iu ,tggrd to tho prospect of successful e£ juration for petroleum oil in Taranaki. "Ldo not think," he said, "that wc m pt extensive oil supplies there.'' Iji reply to a question on tho sub-jietj-Mr Massey explained his diminishei cptimism by stating that he had fend the opinion expressed that Tarajaii' was so broken up by volcanic eruptions that it was difficult to obtain o2 ifl-large quantities.

si«re never has been any secrecy jjjjt gilch an opinion oven on the part «f atpert geologists. In an official repott tome years ago, Dr. Kactor gave jj jjhis opinion that oil in commercial (puntitisQ could, not exist in !New Zea)j#|;on account of the volcanic and (B&rbcd nature of the country. It be-noted now that an Aucklander, rto las been keenly interested iu o:I ! aeration in several countries, sl' - very opinion to Dr. David fljfej chief geologist of the United Bt&s Geological Survey, and was informed, both orally and by letter, of ftVßtgl glaring instances of eminent (fluid gas geologists, with world-wide "idtatific renown, having been completely wrong in their theories about the htodto&ness of developing profitable i offlWds in volcanic shattered territorj'. Is one of the letters to the Auekfctdw referred to, Dr. White writes: .'fit ttsb Whitney, one of the ablest of this country (the United Suits), and then geologist of Califtttia, who, notwithstanding the numerous oil seeps and asphalt deposits of B*o Joaquin "Valley in California, contkded that no oilfield conld be developed in that area on account of ijie. late (Tertiary) age of the rocks, tt£si&tked folding which brought the ■lodl into contact with igneous and aptamorphic rocks. "It was also pointed ; «t by Dr. White that in some of the , Wyoming basins the detailed study of itnotore brooght to light tho presence of a niraber of very small faults which •wore-at first thought by expert geologists seriously to affect the prospective ; Tahe of some of the domes. Howover, tida Dr. White in tho same letter, as development has gone forward, faults lave been usually found to act as dsiat, though at times permitting the ®U and gas to escape into higher sands. Qa the whole the results of exploration iavebeea to abolish to a great extent tbe fears formerly prevailing aa to the ted results of faulting in an oil dome. - Detailed Investigation Justified. . Dr. White was also requested by the • Meklander to discuss methods of in- . *Otig&tion that might be adopted with advantage in connexion with the development of the Taranaki oilfields on a commercial basis, and having regard to tho peculiar conditions existing, and to the overlying volcanic ■debris Which to such a great extent .covers the sedimentary formation. EeJboa to specific questions wero subseSnontly furnished by the Director of tte United States Geological Survey P®P*rtment of the Interior, who wrote, inter *lia:— v • is the belief of Dr. White that ®®W»ding to the maps and information f t ®®fiMinicated to him, no further geological examinations of the Taraoilfields are likely to be of value they are carried out with detailed •itole mapping of the available geologic Witoria. The data furnished by some : ®f tba relatively few outcrops, combined . the study of well logs, which apto have received little attention seem not to have been correlated, J®*? give sufficient evidence on which .J® Work out far more accurately the geological structure than has yet "80a; done. rJ?. v iew of the high prices of crude New Zealand and the production . of the area, it is believed by B®ologist3 of this survey who have ??*^ e fed Taranaki's ease that a deinvestigation, with mapping of mentioned above, is justiand desirable. ;American Geological Director mentioned, incidentally, that the basins of California approximore nearly than any other part -, t ~? United States to thestratigraphio trVu &n< * structural types with Bearc^ers avQ to deal in New