NEW OIL FIELDS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 114, 12 May 1909, Page 8

NEW OIL FIELDS.

ON THE SHORES OF THE RED SEA.

An extensive oil field has been located on the shores on the Red Sea, in Egypt, the discovery of which, it is asserted, is of great international as well as commercial importance. The oil was found by Mr D. A. Sutherland, general manager of the Commonwealth Oil Corporation, Ltd., who has been boring in the vicinity of the field for the past 18 months on behalf of the Egyptian Oil Company, of which, also, he is the manager. The latter company acquired a large tract of country 150 miles south of Suez, and almost midway between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, and the oil field has been tapped at a point easily accessible by shipping arid convenient to the world's markets.

Mr j. E. Scantlebury, of the Commonwealth Oil Corporation, Sydney, received a cablegram from Mr R. Leicester Harmsworth (Member of the House of Commons and one of the proprietors of the London Daily Mail and other newspapers), concerning the discovery, which read:—• "The ■ discovery of oil in Egypt, Avhich was intimated to you, is of very great Imperial and commercial importance. It assures the British Navy of a supply of liquid fuel from British territory, and solves the commercial coal difficulty arising from the high prices of coal in Egypt and adjoining countries. The territory, which is south 150 miles from Suez, is 100 square miles in extent, and the oil well, which spouted 60ft. into the air when tapped, is within 100 ft. of the shore." . -

Mr G. Georgeson, another representative of the Commonwealth Oil Corporation, who has just returned from England -ancTAmerica, where he visited the principal petroleum fields, endorses Mr Harmsworth's opinion concerning the significance of the discovery. "The importance of the loca~ tion of petroleum wells of good quality in Egypt," said Mr Georgeson, "cannot be exaggerated. The tank steamers running from America to India, and from Borneo and Sumatra to Europe and the United Kingdom, pass through Suez, carrying and burning oil. Therefore the unique position in which Mr Sutherland has located this field is of paramount importance. Most of the world's great oil-produc-ing centres are situated many miles from the sea, and the oil has to be transmitted through pipes at an enormous expense to the seaboard. Apart from the advantage to Great Britain of having a sufficient supply of oil for her own consumption within her own territory, the discovery of this field will give her what slie has-been looking for for many years—a' supply of oil fuel for her navy and mercantile marine. Her present imports of oil from America and the East Indies amount to about 50,000,000 gallons annually. It is also satisfactory to predict," concluded Mr Georgeson, "that Australia in future may be able to obtain her oil from British territory, until her own fields are exploited and she can supply sufficient for her own requirements."