The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1969. Oil Off Cape Egmont

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31943, 21 March 1969, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1969. Oil Off Cape Egmont

It would be appropriate if New Zealand’s first commercial oilfield were found in Taranaki rocks from which a seepage of oil was noticed by Dr Ernst Dieffenbach as long ago as 1839. Wells have been drilled in many other parts of New Zealand; but it has been the intermittent but persevering search in Taranaki for more than 100 years that has nourished hopes of the development of commercial oilfields in New Zealand. For many years small quantities of petroleum have been produced at New Plymouth—but only a minute part of New Zealand’s growing needs. A commercial gasfield with an estimated life of 25 years was discovered at Kapuni in 1959, and its area was tested by three wells drilled to depths exceeding 12,000 feet in 1962. Now. reports encourage hopes that, 33 miles off Cape Egmont, a rich oil-bearing structure may have been found some 11,000 feet below the sea.

The world-wide experience of the oil men associated with Shell-B.P. and Todd Oil Services has taught them to be cautious; the Maui No. 1 well might have penetrated merely a pocket of oil. But it is clear that the tests made so far have pleased men qualified to make sound judgments. What has probably pleased them most—from what the layman can judge from reports of the quantities of oil brought ashore —is the evidence suggesting that the oil-bearing sands penetrated in Maui No. 1 are much more porous than the sands hitherto encountered under Taranaki, notably in the four Kapuni wells. Discovery is, of course, merely a stage in the development of an oilfield. It is preceded by highly costly geographical and seismic surveys, and followed by testing to ascertain the extent of the oil-bearing structure. For the discovery off Cape Egmont, this will probably mean introducing a quite different type of drilling platform, one from which, several wells will be drilled at different angles. After the extent of the oil-bearing structure has been evaluated, major problems will remain; notably, how to get the oil and its associated gas ashore. These problems also will be huge and costly, and will depend for their solution upon the technique and skills that are available. almost exclusively, to the world’s major oil companies.

It is to be hoped that the advice of leaders in highly-skilled practical and scientific techniques will be heeded by the Government on this occasion. If the Government had accepted good advice on the exploitation of Kapuni, its riches would have been made commercially available to New Zealand in a very much shorter time than 11 years.