POVERTY BAY OIL SPRINGS. THE NATURE OF THE SPRINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2244, 4 March 1897, Page 53

POVERTY BAY OIL SPRINGS. THE NATURE OF THE SPRINGS.

By J. D.

The fact that Taranaki has " struck oil " reminds us that petroleum has been obtained in other parts of New Zealand ; and as there Is a likelihood of boring operations being resumed in the Poverty Bay district, the general reader will be interested in a short account of what has been done there. According to Mr H. A. Gordon, of the Mines department, an oil-belt, covering a large tract of country, extends from the East Cape as far south as the Mahia Peninsula, if not further. In many places near Gisborne one meets with exudations of oil. Attention is arrested to these springs by a strong smell somewhat resembling ordinary oil. The petroleum rises to the surface accompanied by water, and the spring visited by the writer (at a place called Pakake-a-Whirikoko, abont 35 miles from Gisborne) mast be artesian. It is on a hill 1300 ft above sea level, and as no oil escapes on the lower ground, as it might be expected to do, the spring evidently follows a vertical fissure; otherwise it is hard to explain how the oil and water escape at the summit of the hill, which is surrounded by deep gullies. The earth in the vicinity of this particular spring is so saturated with the oil that if iuffioient heat be given it will ignite and burn for a considerable time. Upon my setting fire to the spring itself, dark red flames and dense black smoke shot up to a height of Bft or 10ft, and it continued to burn for some 20 or 30 minutes. The holes are filled with water, but the oil flows on the top, while very inflammable gas is always bubbling to the surface. By means pf a pannikin I collected from one of these holes a large bottle of crude petroleum. The formation of the country is calcareous marl, with beds of shale and indurated clay underneath. In the opinion of scientist the general stratification is favourable to the retention of oil and gas underneath. The extent and locality of these deposits— that's the thing. EABLY OPERATIONS. Several companies have been formed to develop and work the springs near Gisborne, bat, owing chiefly to want of experience and to bad management, nothing practical has resulted. Operations were started in 1874 at tbe natural spring just described. Tbe first company, after spending £5000 in sinking two bores, went into liquidation. In 1880 the South Pacific Company was formed, and leveral bores were sunk by it in the same place. At 70ft or 80ft both oil and gas were found, the oil coming at the rate of five gallons every 2i hours. The results, however, were practically nil till the sinking of the seventh bore, when a depth of 1321 ft was reached, and then the oU and gas spurted, the oil took fire, and the derrick, outhouses, and tools were destroyed. The Minerva Petroleum Company carried on operations close to the original borings, expending about £5000. The two companies worked at the same time, and the promoters were often fired with enthusiasm at the prospeot of striking the preoious fluid. On December 11, 1887, the manager of the Minerva Company wrote to a friend in Wellington: " Success has at length crowned the efforts of the South Pacific Company." Repeated disappointments, however, led to the abandonment of the project, a similar fate overtaking the operations of a Ghristchurch company at Waiapu, further north. THE QUALITY OP THE OIL. The oil is the true paraffin oil. According to Sir James Hector, who personally inspected the Pakake-a-Whirikoko springe, the supply is abundant. As compared with tbe Taranaki oil, be thinks that it is of superior quality and higher value. Mr W. Skey, analyst to tbe Mines department, concurs in this opinion. On a sample sent to him from Waiapu Mr Skey reports :— " The temperature at which its vapour ignites is 230deg. Its specific gravity is '872 at 58deg Fahr. It is more transparent and liquid than tbe Taranaki oil, and Its colour is a full dark red, Without the green reflect light exhibited by the Taranaki production. An operation showed that by tbe simple process of distillation 28 per csnt. of the oil is obtained for illuminating purposes and adapted for use in our kerosene lamps. All these distilled oils acquire a fine yellow colour and offensive odour, but the latter could be obviated at small expense In manufacturing them on a large soale. Besides the 28 per cent, of oil adapted for illuminating purposes, there is 45 per cent, of oil which wonld require purification ; and there is, farther, 16 per cent, of the product, principally paraffin, which only requires compressing to separate the oil admixed with it, and purification with sulphuric acid to fit it for the manufacture of paraffin candles." ▲ sample from another well was sent to Sir James Hector, who says thSt " tbe oil resembles the Canadian stuff. By three successive distillations and treatments with scids and alkalies, about 65 per cent, of a good illuminating oil was obtainable, with a specific gravity of -843." A good sample sent to Mr R. C. Maopherjod, general superintendent of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, was analysed as follows :—: — Illuminating oil ."^ „, 94 60 per cent. Paraffin 295 v Waste or loss 245 ■■ He set down its fire test at 190deg, and said that the oil was fine, and Would require works of exceedingly simple and inexpensive construction. ITS COMMEBOIAL VALUE. It is not necessary to enumerate the many ns«s — such as in motor cars, &a — to which petroleum will be put in the near future, bat a glance at the position of the industry In America will show that if oil is obtained in any quantity in New Zealand, its commercial value will be very high indead. The existence of oil in California was known to tbe old prospectors by extensive beds of jurohaltam, which substance, I believe, is found in Taranaki, though not in Poverty Bay. The promoters in California worked for six years before they succeeded in getting a well down a thousand feet, and the company had spent upwards of £400,000 before they gyipjd 4 small weiL 'Ino wall* ar*. pom-

parativrlv rpaakinjj. t,v „iaducors. The Uuid •••• a t grtten . < <v as a lubiloant~than~as an illuminating oil, whereas the Poverty Bay oil, as stated above, is of very fine illuminating quality. The total product of California is not sufficient to supply the local requirements, and has to be supplemented from the Eastern States. The cost of carriage is too great to allow of the stuff being conveyed by rail, and the crude oil in barrels is sent by sailing vessels round Cape Horn. It would be infinitely better for the Western States to obtain the article from New Zealand than to have it taken all round the Cape. It will thus be seen that there is an unlimited market ready for the lucky New Zealander who taps oil In payable quantities. Mr William Cooper, the proprietor of the Pakake-a-Whirikoko block, intends to form a company or syndicate with a capital of £10,000 to start operations again. He thinks that from the favourable reports of scientific men, the indications of large quantities of oil, and the experience gained in the past, i there is every prospeot of success. So may it be.