New Oil Drill To Be Near Ashburton

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32077, 27 August 1969, Page 1

New Oil Drill To Be Near Ashburton

1,. » <'■ ' ' < : ■’ ' 'll Drilling for oil on a farm at Newlands, seven miles from Ashburton, is likely to begin soon after the drilling rig which worked without result at Irwell, near Leeston, is shifted to the new site.

Construction of an allweather road to the fiveacre area on Mr J. D. George’s property in which drilling will be done, will begin today. The access road will be from Fairfield Road, a quarter of a mile from the Charing Cross cornet. Preparation of the drilling site will also begin today.

The general manager of New Zealand Petroleum Exploration Company, Ltd (Mr T. A. Goff), yesterday visited Mr George’s farm and oom-

pleted negotiations for the lease of the area required. DRY HOLE The Leeston No. 1 well, at Irwell, has proved to be a dry hole. The weir was sunk to 3796 ft when it struck greywacke. A core sample was taken by “coring" an additional five feet and drilling was stopped at noon last Sunday. The greywacke ■ struck by the drill at the Leeston well differed in some aspects from greywacke in other areas in New Zealand. The sft core sample taken from the bottom of the well was analysed by geologists to make certain that the well had hit the economic basement. “The well gave no showings of petroleum products or gas. It has been capped with cement and abandoned,” said Mr Goff, who is also the drilling engineer for the company. The well is cased to 1386 ft. A strong, 10-inch flow of artesian water was struck about 1950 ft. It caused flooding over the three-acre site leased from Mr A. D. Saunders, a Brookside farmer. The flow of water caused some drilling problems until the drill was pushed below the flow and it was sealed. The water might be useful for irrigation but sinking a bore to that depth would be most expensive. However, it is possible that, the drill went through an artesian supply at a much shallower depth while it was cased. MOVING RIG The oil rig will be moved as soon as possible, as it is being hired by the exploration company from World- ’ wide Petroleum Exploration : Services. The exploration

company sank the well, under a farm-out contract, for the BP-Shell-Todd consortium which has an oil prospecting licence over an extensive area in Canterbury. The new venture will be the first drilling for oil in the Ashburton district for nearly 50 years. An earlier search for oil, at Chertsey, 11 miles north of Ashburton, abandoned after the bore, at a depth of 2170 ft, became blocked. Drilling was done by the Canterbury Petroleum Prospecting Company, which was formed in May, 1913. The drilling began in 1914 and continued until 1921. At this stage sand, thought to have been forced up by extremely high pressures of gas, which accompanies oil deposits, filled and choked the bore. The company went into liquidation as it had exhausted its funds.