THIRD IN FIELD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20008, 5 August 1939, Page 4

THIRD IN FIELD

DOMINION OIL QUEST U S. GEOPHYSICAL PARTY SUPERIOR CO, ACTIVITY OUTLAY OF £3OOO A MONTH % Marking a further important development in the search for oil in New Zealand, a large party of American experts' arrived at Auckland by the liner Monterey yesterday, bringing with them equipment valued at £14,000, states' a Press Association message received this morning. The party will join experts from the Superior Oil l Company of California, who, under a subsidiary company, the Superior Oil Company of New Zealand, Limited, have been working in the Dominion since last October. The company has oilprospecting permits- for six areas in .he Manawatu, Dannevirke, and Taihape districts, and five geologists have been engaged in these fields for some time. Operations in New Zealand are unaer the charge of Mr. E. V. Winterer, the company’s chief geologist, jnd Mr R. E. Turner, head .Of the few Zealand party. Messrs. Winterer and Turner were in Auckland yesterday to meet the new arrivals. Field Investigation Experts Those who came by the Monterey included a geophysical party under Mr. P. C. Kelly, an additional geologist, Mr. N. W. Wickes, and Mr. C. Murdock, who is in charge of equipment. i A large quantity of the most modem equipment for aiding in the search for oil was landed from the Monterey during the day. It included a portable rotary drill, a recording truck, a geophone 'truck, a water truck, and a shooter’s truck, the latter carrying 'a drill and winch for lowering dynamite charges, and several smaller vehicles. A geophysical survey on a large scale will beg -in at once, and will last from six to eight months, it is estimated. The combined operations of ;he company’s experts are covered by a budget of £3OOO per month for that period, and it is not proposed to commence drilling for at least six months. Good Sites Do Not Go Begging The advent of the Superior Oil Company in ithe New Zealand field was announced exclusively in the Herald some months ago, when, the attention of Ith-at company’s geologists was turned to Poverty Bay and the Bay of Plenty. Inquiries addressed ;o 'the Mines Department, which controls the issue of permits for oilprospedting in the Dominion, elicited little information- at that -time concerning the Superior Company’s activities; but it was known that extensive Investigations were being made on behalf of that concern into ;,he geological history of areas not already under prospecting permits issued to the New Zealand Petroleum Company. Limited, and the Shell Company, the two firms first in the field. The fact that the Superior Company has secured permits for Maria-w-atu, Dannevirke, and Taihape areas, and not for areas in Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty, is accounted for in part at least toy the initiative of the two companies which took up the search for oil earlier. There cannot be much of the East Coast which is not under permit to either one or the other of these companies. The advent of the third company offers a further assurance, if it were needed, that the oil possibilities of the Dominion will be tested to the limit*. It also offers independent evidence of the confidence felt by oil men generally in the geological promise of the New Zealand field.