B.P.'S BIGGEST-EVER S.I. EXHIBITION

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29901, 15 August 1962, Page 11

B.P.'S BIGGEST-EVER S.I. EXHIBITION

CHRISTCHURCH Tomorrow. The biggest and most comprehensive display on the oil industry ever to appear in the South Island will be exhibited by BP (New Zealand) Ltd. in the New Zealand Industries Fair.

Besides telling the story of oil from exploring to marketing, the display presents the BP group's association with motor racing, with Donald Campbell's cars and boats, with aviation, and with the continuous technical research essential to anticipate the lubrication and fuelling needs <<f the future Refinery Model Perhaps the most interesting section of the display is tne roofed area tn the centre e'evoted to the Kent refinery cn the Isle of Grain, in the Thames estuary A threeminute spoken commentary describing the. transformation of much of the marshy Isle ©f Grain into a huge refinery is illustrated with large colour-transparencies which Lght up in sequence, and a v.-orking model a catalytic cracker Abo tn this section re two three-dimensional models of the refinery which uncannily ehanee their character as the Urhta briehten and fade. As well as the three models in the Kent refinery section, tiere is a I7ft-high model of a drilling rig of the type being used now in New Zea-

land, and a model of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird car. Popular Pu bit phone Judging by the experience of the oil company’s hostesses at previous displays of the court, one of the most popular features is the publiphone. which answers twenty ' uestions on the oil industry. Inquirers dial their questions—and back come the answers over a loudspeaker. The pubtiphone. incidentally. b alongside the entrance to the operations

room of the court which houses all the electronic and other equipment working the models and transparencies, the publiphone itself, and the automatic film-projector. Racing Films Among films to oe screened at intervals each day within the Kent refinery portion of the exhibit will be “Tribute to Fangio," honouring one of the world’s most famous racing drivers, and “The Right Line," a fastmoving survey of competitive motor-cycling which shows enthusiasts the right way to go about handling their machines. Photographs The court is likely to prove memorable to many visitors if only because of the number and quality of the dozens of photographs demonstrating the great variety of activities, people and interests of the BP group. The photographs range in size from monsters 13ft hleb to "midgets’* 12in square. Subjects portrayed vary from Stirling Moss driving a Cooper Climax to geologists cros- 1

sing a frosen lake in Canada; from BP’s barge-on-legs, Adma Enterprise, drilling for oil in 20ft of water in the Persian Gulf to the testing of rock samples in a palaeontological laboratory. Groups of photographs show the refuelling of passenger liners and air-liners. BP tankers discharging crude oil, work at the Sun. bury research centre, oilexplorers in the wilds of several countries, and different types of service station. Prefrabricated The entire court was prefrabricated in London to a theme proposed by the public relations department of the New Zealand company, and is a big as two averagesize homes. Some 1700 linear feet of British Columbian pine was used to form the framework. Following exhibition in Christchurch the display will be shipped to another BP associate company.