QUEST FOR OIL

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 137, 6 March 1941, Page 6

QUEST FOR OIL

Survey Between Wanganui And Palmerston North Dominion Special Service. WANGANUI, March 5. Beyond stating that some of the areas surveyed were promising, officials ’in charge of geophysical and geological tests for 0.1 l which have been, in progress for 18 months in the country between. Wanganui and Palmerston North, would not commit themselves about future plans. The quest for oil is being made by the Superior Oil Company of New Zealand, a subsidiary of a Californian company of that name. The men directing operations are from the United States, Mr. Theodore H. Brawn being recorder and electrical technician and Mr. C. Murdoch in charge of field work. Their headquarters are in Palmerston North.

In the geophysical survey, which has reached the western end of Marangai Flat, a few miles south of Wanganui, the formation of the strata of the area to the maximum practical boring depth is being charted. The geological survey is being carried out simultaneously under a separate department. This survey determines the substance of the strata.

Boring for oil is not a haphazard undertaking. A shaft is sunk only after exhaustive scientific tests have proved that conditions are such that oil is likely to be found at an attainable depth and in sufficient quantity to justify the cost. No drilling for oil is done in the preliminary work being carried out near Wanganui. The test wells being sunk are purely port of the research methods to obtain a picture of the earth’s formation and composition with a view to drilling later should the Jesuits of the survey justify this action. Usually a six-inch hole is drilled to a predetermined depth, varying from 40 feet to 600 feet. A series of explosive charges is then fired near the bottom of the shaft and the vibrations are recorded electrically and photographed. Charts obtained in this way resemble earthquake recordings, but from them geophysicists can determine the depth, slope and configuration of the strat in any cross-section of country which has been surveyed.