SOUTH ISLAND PROJECT

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12022, 27 December 1924, Page 3

SOUTH ISLAND PROJECT

21,539 ACRES TO BE PROSPECTED. ' OPERATIONS AT MURCHISON. Advice has been received that applications for prospecting warrants made on behalf of the Murchison Oil Sydnicat« have been granted by the arwden oi Murichson. Including rights already ob tained by negotiations with private land) owners, the syndicate has secured the exclusive rights to bore for oil over areas, in Murchison County aggregating 21,539 acres. It has expert ad rice that the prospects of obtaining petroleum in commercial quantities are exceptionally favourable. Following on the discovery of oil eeep* ages and gas springs, a great deal oi field work was done in order to ascertain the exact geological conditions. In the opinion of mining men engaged on this work those were highly favourable and as a result arrangements were made in July of this year for Mr J. A. Spencer* surveyor and oil geologist, to come to New Zealand and report upon the prospects. Mr Spencer was then in New Guinea conducting boring operations for the Man# dated Development Company. His operations there were successful, oil being struck at & shallow depth and as a result the Matapau Oil Corporation, Limited, is now being floated in Australia with a nominal capital of TEST BORE RECOMMENDED. On his arrival in New Zealand two. months ago, Mr Spencer proceeded to Murchison and after a geological examination of the field furnished the Murchison syndicate with highly favourable reports of the prospects. Mr Spencer is now in the North Island. He said he had recommended that a test well be put down on the eastern bank of the Mangles river and he considered that' a large prospective oil-field exists in the valley of the Blackwater river, trending southward four mile*, within the area secured by the syndicate and adjacent to the site selected for boring. He said strong evolutions of gas combined with persistent small flowing oil seepages in close proximity to each other furnished undeniable evidence of underground oil deposits. These condirions obtained on both the Mangles and Owen rivers and close examination of the strata offered convincing proof that they were admirably adapted for the conservation and preservation of petroleum. GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. As to the geological features. Mr Sjiencer said tnese, on both the Mangles and the Owen rivers, were strikingly similar to those obtaining in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea. No volcanic evidence was traceable throughout the area surveyed, but mudstones, limestones and sandstones lie conformably. Touching the depth at which oil might be looked for, Mr Spencer said the oilsands should be reached at 1050 ft on the Mangles and 1700 ft on the Owen rivei. There was another area, known as the Muruia, which he considered required a protracted survey, the geology being exceedingly complicated. Rather deeper boring would be required here. As to the origin of the idea that oil might be found at Murchison, Mr Spencer said Mr John Bassett, a retired mining engineer at Hokitika, had been investigating the field for four years. After examination he agreed with Mr Bassett that the prevalence of the sedimentary series, development ef anticlinal structure, and petroliforous nature above the horizon or oil shows, were decisively favourable factors. ICe was convinced that oil would be lifted.