THE INDUSTRY IN TARANAKI.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10692, 16 May 1906, Page 4

THE INDUSTRY IN TARANAKI.

A HISTPRY OF, PERSEVERANCE. The history of boring for petroleum oil m Taranaki extends as far back at 1865, when the first .efforts .were ;made. In the two years following * three wells were 'sunk,: the ..maxim.um .deothj- being. 650 feet. J " Oil wis found "but hot' in' large quantities, and, the appliances being primitive, operations were discontinued apd the wells abandoned. There was a lapse of ' about twenty years before anything else of importance was done. It was m 1888 ' that Mr 0. Samuel, of New Plymouth, took the matter m hand, associated with the Hon. Sir Julius Yogel. - After some considerable difficulty a company Avas formed m England. A plant and drillers were, sent to New Plymouth, and a site was chosen at the root of the breakwater. Th« first bore Avas put down about 1000 feet before oil Avas truck. FINANCIERS "FED UP." Unfortunately, owing to the broken nature of the strata and the falling of hard boulders into the uncased portion of the bore, the drilling tools often got jambed and broken. It Avas m 1891 that the English shareholders finally got disgusted and ceased to furnish funds, and as a result the work was again suspended. At the moment of ceasing Avork the head driller (Mr Booth) was confident of .the ultimate success of the project. "It is the most valuable oil I have ever seen yet," he Avrote. "Without going any deeper than we ure now we could pump about four barrels a day— that is 160-gallons. The success of the coniEany is now certain. It Avould pay well > pump four such wells and refine the oil» but the move wells the bettor. I

recommend sinking thc present bore another 200 feet." For some time the drills were retained on the ground m the hope that capital wonld be forthcoming from England, but this hope was disappointed, largely on account of the financial crisis of 1892---3. The Now Zealand creditors then took proceedings with a view to the sale of the plant. Towards the end of 1893 Mr Samuel visited England, and ho succeeded m arranging a loan on the strength of the company's assets m New Zealand. The object of this was to pay all the New Zealand debts and secure a respite of six months m which to raise further capital. A COLONIAL SYNDICATE. Thc company found itself unable to rise to the occasion, and Mr Samuel formed a small syndicate m New Plymonth. Plant was secured, and the old works re-opened, but the attempt to clear the old bore failed. Mr Samuel then met Mr R. E. Fair, a member of an Australian firm of artesian-well borers, who had succeeded m reaching great depths m America, Europe, and Australia. They agreed, m consideration or receiving an equal share m the assets, to bore to a depth of 1000 feet. Mr Fair took charge and sank a bore to that depth near the abandoned one. At 905 feet oil was struck, but water was also present, and as it rose and fell with the tide it was evident there was a fissure running out to sea. So the bore was plugged down and another site was selected about a mile away m a southerly direction. This bore was worked down to 1534 feet without striking either oil or gas. M r Fair then started a new bore to thc south-east of the first one, and at 905 feet struck oil that yielded at least ten barrels a day. But there was a layer of papa above which was continually falling m and stopping the flow of oil. Early m 1895 a fourth bore was commenced. In face of great difficulties and continuous breaking of tools m the tangled strata, the bore was carried down as far as 1976 feet. Oil was struck at 1358, 1392, and 1675 feet, but is was only at the 1976 feet level that any large quantity was struck, and unfortunately there was difficulty m shutting out the water m the sandstone formatiqn. This venture met with continued misfortune culminating m an explosion and fire, which destroyed the derrick and the works. Mr Fair then returned to Australia, Mr Samuel, the chairman of directors, taking over the management. NOT DEEP ENOUGH. Efforts were again made to free the bore from water, and as a result so much as eight barrels of oil a day wore obtained. But the strata, were too friable and soft and the bore could not be kept permanently free. In all about 70 barrels were obtained, and this found a ready market as 15s a barrel, the barrels being supplied. The Railway Department and private manufacturers found thc crude oil most suitable for their purposes, and orders poured m. In March, 1897, the directors reluctantly abandoned their efforts at this spot. Leaving the bore well cased they removed, the plant to a spot a hundred yards away and commenced a fifth bore. At 900 and 1000 feet they struck oil, but the difficulty with the papa appeared again, and they finally abandoned ai. hope of doing much good at this level. It was m the fourth bore that the persevering promoters first succeeded m shutting out the water at a depth of over 1500 feet. The present one was commenced 18 months ago and has been carried to a depth of 2331 feet.