TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16497, 1 August 1924, Page 6

TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

1)R. (.LAPP'S REPORT. PROSPECTS BELIEVED TO BE FAVORABLE. TWO NEW BOBES ADVISED. The main features of Dr. F. CL Clapp’s report as the result of which Taranaki Oilfields, Ltd., has been floated in Australia. have been made public. Dr. Clapp (states the Taranaki Herald) expresses a. belief that the boring methods adopted in the past have been unsuitable and that since these operations have shown that oil of a high grade exists in seemingly unfavorable geological situation at New Plymouth, more oil exists in other parts of the basin. He recommends the sinking of a bore somewhere between the Taranaki Petroleum Company’s No. 3 well and the Sugar Loaves, and of another in the neighborhood of Tara la.

“Summarising■"'the general geological structure” (i.e., of the Taranaki Provincial District), Dr. Clapp states it “consists essentially of a westward or south-westward dipping monocline, at the western edge of which volcanic activity has occurred in the past. Between tlie easternmost dykes or plugs known, lying just cast of the 'Wanganui stream, and the eastern border of the basin, is an interval of 50 miles, which leaves plenty of room for many geological structures if they exist, any one .of which may contain petroleum in commercial quantities if the structure be suitable.”

Regarding the area comprising the old New Plymouth oilfield, lie writes: — “Summarising, I can find no proof of the existence of deep-seated anticlinal structure adjoining the Sugar Loaves, although certain facts indicate the possible existence' of such structure for a few hundred feel, outward from the igneous mass. The desirability of drilling a well to test, the area between Taranaki No. 3 well and tbe'. Sugar Loaves is based on (1) the fact, that' the intervening area has never been tested over 1100 feet deep : (2) the excellent showings of oil in these shallow wells; (3) the proximity to- the Breakwater seepages; and (4) the fact, that the dyke or plug must form a pocket, in any porus strata that may exist, below ground.” In supporting his view of the probability that petroleum can now be obtained commercially in Taranaki Dr. Clapp states: — “1. No wells in the .New Plymouth field are known to have been systematically pumped. All the wells have fallen into, disuse and negjeyt or beep abandoned whenever th<> flow became small enough to discredit their eoimneicia’l success. ‘Such practice' is hot indulged in most oil fields. “2. So far as I can learn, no well has been cleaned out, although in oilfields of th e world it. is a. recognised necessity to clean wells frequently or whenever they appear to he clogged by falling rock, by natural cementation, or by parafming.

“3. No well in the field has ever been ‘steamed,’ alt bought, tbe wells are high in para phi no content, although in such cases in other fields the paraph in e frequently clogs the pores of the sands, and after a, time, prevents flowing, so that steaming or shooting is necessary to open new crevices, in which oil may again reach the tubing of the well.

“4. Since wells in the field are known to have been abandoned owing to tbe. loss of certain drilling and fisbitig tools, general inefficiency appears to have been the custom. Although tools are frequently lost, temporarily in wells, if is not usual for this practice to proceed to the extreme to which it has gone at New Plymouth. Losses of tools should be an incident in the operations that should ho speedily overcome by competent band ling. “5 and 6. Out of tl>c* wells in trio field, only Bkmjfeim appears to have been drilled properly, so that tbe others may be considered as practically nonexistent from the standpoint of actually demonstrating whether (lie oil • was in commercial quantity. “7. Tlie longest lived well in the field is apparently Taranaki No. 3, at the western end of the field, from, which oil still llo\ys.in small, quantities at weekly intervals, aiid near to which gas bubbles to the surface through crevices formed in the; drilling operations.. This well is situated ohly a few hundred feet from what appears to be the south and east boundary of the Sugar Loaves igneous mass. The intervening distance between No. 3 and tbe Sugar Loaves is what may be tbe most favorable geologically of any part of the field, and lias never been drilled-more than 1100 feet deep. Those wells bad some of the best showings found at any shallow' depth in the field, were situated near important oil seepages in the sea, andf hence the desirability of drilling ill the interval between No. 3 and the Breakwater for a. fair test of any remaining oil deposit. “8. If petroleum' be present in that portion of Taranaki east of the railway which runs through. Liglewood and Stratford, the deposits may be expected several hundred feet, and possibly over a thousand feet, closer to the surface than at New Plymouth, on account of the general east and north-east rise of the strata in tlie intervening area. “9. It is contrary to 1 the principles of oil geology to assume that, the oil produced to date at New Plymouth is all that will bo found in the Taranaki basin. As a matter of fact, most regions in which petroleum is found are far removed 'from igpeous intrusions, and in orily a few places in the world has igneous activity occurred in the past that appears to have possibly assisted in the formation, of petroleum. It is much more common to' find large deposits of oil far removed from igneous masses than near to them; therefore, lam of opinion that the remainder of Taranaki may offer more chance of (jnding commercial oil deposits than did the New Plymouth locality.” “The .great depths reached by wells at New Plymouth and vicinity under mediorce management and adverse conditions .render it certain that wells cap be drilled to the depth required to tap possible, oil-bearing strata. . . . Much natural gas lias been encountered in most, of tbe bore holes sunk to date in the' district ; hence this substance may be available for fuel in drilling when encountered in the upper portion of any well.”

“The question of whether petroleum ftclnally exists in commercial quantity in any region call only be ascertained by the drill, and proper tests have not yet been made in Taranaki. The best that can be said now is that conditions are favorable, not only for occurrence, lint for the technicalities of development, and for the establishment of the industry if petroleum be found commercially any where in the district.”