OIL IN NEW ZEALAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 388, 23 June 1928, Page 12

OIL IN NEW ZEALAND

OPERATIONS TO DATE PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS Considerable interest is being taken at the moment in the varying endeavours through Australia and New Zealand to locate payable oil. Across the Tasman, the stage has been set for some time now for a “bull campaign” in oil company shares. i he market on this side for scrip in similar concerns is also extremely sensitive. Steady prospecting work is going on all the time, and indications are quite bright for the location of a profitable commercial oil field. At this juncture, therefore, a short review of previous attempts to find oil in this country should be of interest. A geological survey of New Zealand has established the fact that probably two-fifths of the country contains strata that .may possibly yield mineral oil. Seepages of oil have been observed in many localities, while emanations of gas and other supposed indications of oil, such as brine springs, have been observed over very wide areas. In North Westland, New Plymouth and adjoining areas, and in the WairoaEast Cape district, indications of oil are unusually strong. Indications In Westland The strongest indications of oil in the North Westland district occur at Kotuku, 21 miles by rail east of mouth. Here, over an area of several acres, the surface gravels are heavily impregnated with oil, and considerable quantities have been collected by digging holes. One shallow bore :.s said to have produced 14,000 gallons of oil. Several hundred barrels have been produced from other shallow bores. There are several other localities in this long strip where geological surveys have resulted in the finding of condiditions favourable to the oil-seeker. In the Murchison district a company has been at work for some time, the directors being confident in the ultimate success of their efforts. New Plymouth Yields 2,000,000 Gallons The New Plymouth district has perhaps been the scene of the greatest number of attempts to locate oil. Oil prospecting operations have been carried out in that district since 1566, the greatest activity apparently being registered about 1912, when several bores were put down. In 1905 a bore, afterwards known as the Birthday Well, struck oil in some quantity, and a few years later several bores drilled by the Taranaki Oilwells, Ltd., and one drilled by the Blenheim Company, for varying pei'iods yielded oil. These bores were all situated between New Plymouth and its port to the west. Exact data is hard to collect, but it is estimated that the total production at New Plymouth to date has been little short of 2,000,000 gallons. In 1924 the Taranaki Oil Fields, Ltd., began operations in the New Plymouth district on a bigger scale than any previous venture of its kind in the district, but after little more than two years, during which two bores were put down approximately 5,000 feet, abandoned operations in these parts. At the company’s Moturoa bore in February and March of 1925 at a depth of between 2,500 and 2,600 feet, gas and a little oil came up the bore. Strong Indications at Gisborne Indications of oil in the GisborneEast Cape district are plentiful, and a considerable amount of boring nas been done. One of the first attempts to find payable oil was made in 1874 by the Poverty Bay Oil and Petroleum Company, which sank a small bore a few hundred feet. Between 1880 and 1887 the South Pacific Petroleum Company drilled nine holes near the Waitangi Hill. The last bore had reached 1,321 feet in December, 1887, when a “blow out” of oil and gas took place. The oil and gas became ignited and the derrick was burnt down and much of the machinery destroyed. When the well was cleaned out no further indications of oil were found. An attempt in the following year in the same district by the Minerva Petroleum Company is also reported to have resulted in the finding of oil, but not in sufficient quantities to warrant further operations with the limited amount of capital at the control of the company. Flow of Ten Barrels a Day In 1909 the Gisborne Oil Company began boring on the Waitangi Hill, on a spot selected by the Geological survey. A light flow of oil equal to three barrels a day was struck at 655 feet. Drilling was continued to 1.478 feet, when, principally owing to trouble with the casing, which was not strong enough to withstand the pressure of the caving ground, the bore was stopped. When the casing was being withdrawn the oil at 655 feet was again tapped, and a flow of 10 barrels a day obtained until, chiefly owing, it is said, to mud blocking the holes in the casing, the flow was reduced to less than three barrels when pumping, it woufd seem, was abandoned. In 1902-03 two bores were drilled at Totangi by an English syndicate in which Mr. R. Brett, of Auckland, was interested. Traces of oil and much gas were met with. During the years 1911-12 a concern with a large capital, the New Zealand Oilfields, Ltd., began operations at Totangi and Waihirere, but though indications of oil were met with, the concern, chiefly owing to limitations of capital and trouble with drilling, was compelled to cease operations. Present Time Operations _ Higher up the coast, near the spot where the Taranaki Oilfields Company commenced operations in 1926, the Southern Cross Petroleum Company began drilling in 1881. Several bores yielded more or less gas and, in one, several small “shows” of gas were seen.

Gallons The New Plymouth district has perhaps been the scene of the greatest number of attempts to locate oil. Oil prospecting operations have been carried out in that district since 1866, the greatest activity apparently being registered about 1912, when several bores were put down. In 1905 a bore, afterwards known as the Birthday Well, struck oil in some quantity, and a few years later several bores drilled by the Taranaki Oilwells, Ltd., and one drilled by the Blenheim Company, for varying periods yielded oil. These bores were all situated between New Plymouth and its port to the west.

Exact data is hard to collect, but it is estimated that the total production at New Plymouth to date has been little short of 2,000,000 gallons.