TARANAKI OIL WELLS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15862, 27 February 1912, Page 8

TARANAKI OIL WELLS.

[Per Press Association.] NEW PLYMOUTH, February 26. The Taranaki. Petroleum Company’s bore No. 5 afforded a great spectacle last evening. Oil and mud were being ejected to the height of the top of the derrick with a force that was almost unprecedented in tho history of local oil boring. Tim bore having been cleaned and the casing replaced, drilling was started in the morning, and when twenty-eight feet had been bored, tho material encountered being oil-bearing throughout, the gas came away, being followed by an eruption, not a flow, or oil and mud. The pressure was enormous (over IOOOIb to the inch, the manager stated), and it was quite out of the question to measure the oil output. The whole place and surroundings are covered with oil and mud, but the manager hopes to save a certain proportion of the oil. The well is now down 2323 ft, and as soon as the pressure relaxes, which may happen at any moment, the manager hopes to divert the oil flow to the underground tanks. Before the eruption tho well was full of pure oil. This no doubt came from the veins that supplied the thirty-six barrels a day flow. With the tapping of the new veins lower down it is expected the flow will be greater than ever.