OIL POSSIBILITIES.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2743, 8 September 1923, Page 2

OIL POSSIBILITIES.

NEW ZEALAND STRATA. Dr. P. G. Morgan contributed a paper to the Science Congress in Sydney, on the petroliferous areas in New Zealand, in which he stated that a large part of New Zealand was covered by strata which in some part or other might possibly yield oil. Seepages of oil, gas emanations, and other indications of petroleum had beenfound in many localities. The chief of these were: (1) Kotuku, In Nortn Westland, where a few hundred barrels had been obtained from shallow bores; (2) near Now Plymouth, Tara, naki, where numerous bores had yielded possibly 50,000 barrels of oil; and (3) the Gisborne-East Cape district, where bores had been drilled in various localities, but only a trifling production had been obtained. There were various drawbacks to the efficient prospecting of the New Zealand areas, and only financially powerful concerns, employing experienced geologists and drillers should undertake further prospecting. Much of. in fact, nearly all, the drilling done in the Dominion had been futile, partly owing to, lack of capital, and more largely because of lack of experience. The composition of the oils discovered in New Zealand was outlined by Professor Easterfleld, who said geologists still had hopes that oil would be produced in some parts of Now Zealand as an economic proposition.