OIL-SEEKERS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 57, 8 March 1913, Page 9

OIL-SEEKERS

THE ART OF THE DRILLER BORING A HAWKES BAY SHEEP FARM -NATURAL GAS FOR FUEL(By Our Special Reporter.) About a mile distant from the Danne-virke-Weber main road, near a side-road known as the Oparae or Waipatiki, on the bank of a small creek, is the new oil-drilling "rig"' of the Kotuku Oilfields, Ltd. Five or six months ago this quiet spot in southern Hawkes Bay presented nothing to the view 1 ; that is to say, but ordinary sheep-farm. Now there is reared a business-like group of galvanised iron buildings, surmounted with a tower-like derrick 70 feet high, and flanked by a combined office-and-boarding-house for the staff of over twenty men, and with two neat cottages, one for the manager, one for the leading drillers. Since last winter, the whole ot this little settlement and community has grown up, like a mushroom in the night. And all New Zealand— or, at any rate, all those New Zealanders who hope that their Dominion will one day become an industrial country as well as * a primary producer — will pray that the pioneer oil settlement has come not only to stay but to expand. The manager of the Kotuku Oilfields, Ltd., is Mr. Clias. N. Taylor, a young West Coaster, with American experience. Thanks to Mr. Taylor's courtesy, an Evening Post reporter was permitted to inspect the surface works, and to draw his own conclusions. No questions were asked with regard to under surface developments. Inside the galvanised iron buildings everything is massive and businesslike. The derrick and the winding gear, with the steel wire ropes, are reminiscent of gold-miniug ; but instead of a shaft down which miners are caged to work their small man-handled drills, there is a bore> now one foot in 'diameter, in which a single massive drill is raised and dropped by the winding gear. At the will of the driller, the drill, which w,eighs about two tons, is elevated some feet, then dropped with a thud ; and the operation proceeds ' till the impact and quiver become monotonous. There is, however, no sameness in the blow, for by swivel arrangement the ponderous plummet swings, and falls ever in a different place, thus avoiding a jam and boring an even hole. In ordinary ham-mer-and-drill work the man who holds the drill attains the same result by continually turning the tool between the strokes of the hammerman. That such a huge drill can be worked from the surface at a depth of thousands of feet, simply by manoeuvring it on the end of a wire rope, is part of the wonderful art of the driller. When drawn to the surface the drill is found to be about 45 feet in length from the boring-bit to the top of the stem. The width of the bit ranges from 18 inches to 6 inches. The Kotuku Oilfields, Limited, is now operating with a 12-inch bit. . BORING, PUMPING, CASING. As the bore goes downward, the iron pipe casing is pushed down with it. - Ab soon as a sufficient distance has been bored to conveniently admit another length of pipe — they are in 20ft lengths, worth about £15 each— the drill is hauled up, and is temporarily swung. out of action, A long tubular pump, suspended on a slightly thinner wire rope (fin, the drill rope being |in.o»;, lin), is then lowered. ■ It is raised up and down' to catch the water and sludge, which are arrested by means of a valve in the bottbm of the pump. .On being brought to the surface,, this matter itf discharged into an escape drain. It is liquid, dark, and oozy. [One might have said oily, but to enquire into the presence or absence- of oil indications below — information which is tho property of' the company — was no part of the writer's purpose ; and, for obvious reasons ; • the me of an ambiguous adjective is avoided.] The bore having been of the oozy matter, the next step is to screw the new length of casing pipe into the top pipe in the bore, an operation requiring Doth delicacy and power. A bar is attached to the pipe) after the manner of the old marine capstan, and four men walk round with it, while the head driller watches closely to see that thb thread of the screw is uninjured. The casing must be a perfectly morticed vertical column of pipe, with no weak joints. THE MAN AT THE LEVBR. Now comes the time to lift the whole column of casing from the clamps that have been supporting it at the collar of the bore. The engine must gently take the strain of the many tons weight, and lower it gradually till the ne • length of pipe has, disappeared in the bore, when everything will be ready for drilling again. As the head driller takes the lever there is some expectancy, for it is easy enough -to have a ruinous smash. Carefully feeling his engine, he presently swings his pipe-column clear of the clamps, which are then partially removed, and gradually the casing disappears into mother earth. And co goes on the regular succession of boring, bailing, and casing the boro, repeated many times until the oil comes. If it comes. A 20-h.p. two-cylinder steam engine does the winding. A small vertical engine drives a dynamo for electric lighting, and a Worthington pump has. just been installed to help the creek water into the boiler. The exhaust steam is utilised in a cunningly-made heater, through which the 'water passes through a coil of pipes, and thus goes to the boiler partially heated— a fuel-saving device.

It was said at the outset that before the erection of this drilling rig was commenced last winter, there was nothing there but sheep farm. This is not literally correct. Higher up the hill than the present works there was a pretroleum gaS spring. Someone put a match to it', and it made a fine roaring bonfire. Mr. Taylor promptly utilised this .gas. The fire was extinguished, the spring "was "harnessed," and the. gas is now led in pipes to the boiler, where it is used as an auxiliary, mixed with the burning wood, which is another economy in fuel. FISHING IN THE FAR DEEP. Though a driller bores at a depth perhaps thousands of feet beyond his reach, he can do wonderful things at the bottom of his Jiore. The low part of the drill, the business end, may be broken off the stem. If so, he has literally to fish for it. A hollow tool which fits over the lost_ one, catching it with dogs or automatic contrivances, is a favourite substitute for a hook. In this way a portion of a drill weighing 4^cwt was lifted from the bottom of the bore at Oparae. When it is necessary to expand the boTe, a special expanding bit, fitted with internal springs, is used ; this tool alone is worth from £75 to £100. Though his tools are furnished with springs and automatic contrivances, the driller's skill in operating them by raising and lowering in the far deep is sufficiently obvious. Already a great deal of money has been expended at this spot by the Kotuku Oilfields, Ltd. One small tool, as stated, k worth £75 to £100 ; others are worth £25 to £50 ; and the* 1 works as a whole, though plain, are substantial, and must represent a considerable capital. Add to this the fact that this syndicate has, at a spot two miloe away, an- % other drilling rig— a replica, of that de-

scribed above — and it will be seen that the Kotuku Oilfields, Ltd., has sunk a good deal of hard money in its exploratory endeavour. Consider also that it is boring, and has been for 6ome time, at Kotuku, on the West Coast of the South Island; and that another syndicate is operating towards Mangaone, near Pahiatua, in what may be called the Hawkes Bay-Wairarapa belt of gas-bearing country. It is, therefore, clear 'that, in that district alone, private enterprise is carrying on a great work, and in the reward, if there is one, New Zealand will participate. The fact that this Hawkes BayWairarapa country is largely ga6-bearing is no proof, though it is some indication, of the existence of payable oil. Even if three or four bores. strike a fair flow, that again does not necessarily prove the existence of a profitable oil-field. But every effort in this district, and in the others which are being explored in. New Zealand, will be watched with the keen interest which such a nation-making quest deserves.