Search For Oil To Extend To Nelson

Press, Volume C, Issue 29672, 16 November 1961, Page 8

Search For Oil To Extend To Nelson

(New Zealand Press Association)

NELSON, Nov. 15. The search for oil in New Zealand will extend to Nelson early in the new year. A geophysical survey covering some 6M square miles will be undertaken by a specialist team from Geosurveys of Australia, Ltd., working in conjunction wtih the Nelson firm of Lime and Marble, Ltd. They will assess the possibilities of three areas held under lease—Nelson-Waimea Plains, Farewell Spit, and a section north of the ShellTodd area north of Reefton. The managing director of Geosurveys (Mr R. C. Sprigg, of Adelaide) is in Nelson carrying out ground-survey work. He will be here for a fortnight, and will visit all three areas, accompanied by Lime and Markle’s geologist, Mr J. C. Braithwaite. Team of Experts It is his third visit to the area and is preliminary to the arrival of'a small team of experts who will carry out a detailed gravity survey in January.

The gravity survey will “pinpoint” areas for more detailed seismographic tests which will follow if gravity tests confirm present favourable indications. The two companies, in a statement today, said leases were granted in mid-1961 over the Farewell Spit area, over Nelson, and about Reefton. “These are all deeply sedimented areas, much of the sediment being marine and consequently of importance in the search for oil,” the statement said. Previous Surveys Surveys carried out previously by the Geological Survey had shown that both the Farewell Spit and Reefton areas accommodated deep basins, but less was known about the Nelson area. "Although these operations were planned before the recent discovery of oil and gas at Kapuni, undoubtedly this has served to accelerate the investigations now in progress,” the statement says. “The Golden Bay and Nelson tertiary basins are presumed to be broadly continuous with those extending beneath the sea from Kapuni, and knowledge of petroliferous gas accumulations at Kapuni will greatly assist operations in the northern part of the South Island.’

"Of particular interest to geologists is the knowledge that many of New Zealand’s West Coast oil and gas flows and showings have been from coal measures,” says the statement.