DOUBTFUL PROSPECTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 30 March 1938, Page 5

DOUBTFUL PROSPECTS

j AMERICAN PRODUCER’S OPINION : WELLINGTON. This Day. : j On a visit to those parts of the Do- : minion where oil is known to be is Mr • j R. T. Colter, Los Angeles, an American : | oil producer, who arrived in New Zea- : I land about a fortnight ago. Interview- • i ed at Wellington yesterday he said he ■ > would like to be more hopeful of the • | prospects of developing the oil indus- : j try, but he was doubtful whether New :; Zealand prospects would attract Ame- ■ j rican interests. If he was wrong in his j j opinion, however, those interests would ■ | not be slow to participate in the coun- ■ I try’s oil development. ; Mr Colter said that to facilitate the : i aevelopment of oil it was essential that ■ I certain geographical features should be ; i present, in the country to be worked. ; j “The volcanic nature of the country :; in New Zealand is not considered fav- : ourable for sinking wells to tap what ■ | deposits there may be,” he said. “It is ;' a very expensive business to sink a ; well and on this work depends a great : deal for the proper development of the : ; industry. It has to be done properly •; or not at all.” It was also necessary ij for the oil to be lying in sand and for ; | the formation of the country to provide ;| lev'l strata. 11 UNSUCCESSFUL IN AUSTRALIA |j Mr Colter said that wealthy Arneri- ■ | can interests had spent many thous- ■ j ar.ds of pounds in sustained efforts to ;| make use of the oil which was t 6 be : found in Australia, but results had :; proved unsuccessful and disappointing. || “If New Zealand oil can be developed :■ I am sure United States oil companies 11 will be interested,” said Mr Colter. :| They had gone ‘to all parts of America j| in their quest for oil and would be pre- ;| pared to come to the Dominion if there ; j was a chance of a reasonable return ;j from production. ; “In the United States there are ; | 333,000 oil wells and they produce j 3,350.000 barrels of oil daily,” Mr Colter said. “This seems a tremendous i output, but the demand is equally big, ■ and oil is a commodity with a quick 1 and ready turn-over.” Crude oil flowing from the wells was delivered through pipe-lines lo the refineries ; where it was processed a number of times by different treatments. Petrol. ’ kerosene, vaseline, grades of oil for Diesel engines and other by-products were thus obtained to meet a strong ' demand. r To illustrate the expansion of the industry to meet these growing needs, Mr Colter quoted from a list of returns which showed that 1164 new wells were sunk in America in 1937, some drilling going down as far as 13,600 feet. Mr Colter said he was interested in about 200 wells situated in some of the richest American fields. He will visit the Taranaki oil district this week.