NEW ZEALAND ON VAST OIL ZONE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21988, 12 January 1937, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND ON VAST OIL ZONE

AUSTRALIAN GEOLOGIST’S STATEMENT

CAREFUL SEARCH FOR DEPOSITS URGED

[THE PRESS Special Service.)

AUCKLAND, January 11

That New Zealand definitely lies on a vast oil zone which passes round the world, and that consequently it, along with other countries where potential deposits have not been assessed, should be most carefully examined for supplies, was the opinion expressed in an interview by Dr. W. G. Woolnough, of Canberra, geological adviser to the Australian Commonwealth Government, and now visiting Auckland to participate in the congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, as president of the geology section. The search for oil has been the principal feature of the life work of Dr. Woolnough. He has studied the subiect for many years in Australia, New Guinea, the United States, and the Argentine, having made an extensive tour of the two last-named countries in 1930. During the last 10 years he has covered 80,000 miles by air, 30,000 of which he completed only last year to carry out geological surveys. “My knowledge of New Zealand geology is too meagre to permit my making any definite statement as to the possibility of rich concealed oil deposits,” said Dr. Woolnough- “The zone in which the country lies passes from Germany through Poland, Southern Russia, Persia, Burma, Dutch Indies, and swings round Australia like the grain in a piece of Oregon swings round a knot, also embracing New Guinea, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. “There, are great gaps in this zone, and oilfields are found only at long intervals,” he continued. “All these, countries will bear thorough study; but whether large deposits will be located in the Dominion is for the future to determine.”

During the science congress, Dr. ’Woolnough will deliver the presidential address on fact and theory in geology, dealing chiefly with the geological condition which determines the formation of petroleum and coal.