OILFIELDS MAY FAIL

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 200, 21 May 1936, Page 9

OILFIELDS MAY FAIL

Problem For Singapore Naval Authorities STORAGE TANKS NOT BUILT UNDERGROUND By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received May 21, 1 a.m.) London. May 20. The "Daily Telegraph’s” naval correspondent says (lie Rajah of Sarawak's disclosure that the oilfields in his territory may dry up in 10 years creates a problem for the Singapore naval authorities. The oilfields are the second largest in the Empire and the main source of supply for British warships in the Far East. A further disclosure that oil tanks at the Singapore base are above ground and therefore vulnerable to air attack is equally disturbing. There is little excuse for aboveground storage at Singapore as the work lias been completed in the past 10 years when it lias generally been considered an elementary precaution to build subterranean oil reservoirs at all important naval stations.

The matter demands an immediate and searching inquiry. If the Sarawak wells dry up. Britian will have to depend on the Dutch East Indies, which will raise difficulties.