Second Well To Be Sunk At Murchison

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31678, 14 May 1968, Page 1

Second Well To Be Sunk At Murchison

(New Zealand Press Association)

NELSON, May 13. Another oil well will be drilled almost immediately in the Murchison district.

It will be near the Blackwater No. 1 well, which has thwarted attempts to achieve a satisfactory test during the last few days.

Another drilling rig, bigger than the one used for the No. 1 well, is likely to be brought from the United States.

“Another well will be drilled in the immediate vicinity as soon as equipment is available,” the geologist in charge of the project, Mr E. B. Lacaff, said in Murchison tonight. “Immediate vicinity” is generally regarded as being within a radius of a quarter of a mile. Mr Lacaff, the executive vice-president of the Austra-

lian Oil Corporation, said mechanical difficulties would probably prevent the first well from being completed as a commercial venture. Another attempt to coax oil from it will be made tomorrow morning. Mr Lacaff said that if oil was not brought to the surface in the morning, the well would be closed. One hundred gallons of hydrochloric acid, diluted with about the same quantity of water, was injected under pressure through a slotted section of the tubing at the bottom of the well today in an attempt to break down the drilling mud thought to be sealing the sides of the hole. But when the acid was flushed out two hours later, no oil appeared. All fluid was swabbed from the well this afternoon and the gas-bearing formation about 1520 ft was opened to the atmosphere. The well was then closed to allow pressure to build up overnight. It will be opened again about 8 a.m. If there is no success again, the well will probably be closed, at least temporarily. “This is the last action we can take with the equipment available here at present,” said Mr Lacaff.