STAFF AND EQUIPMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1930, Page 14

STAFF AND EQUIPMENT

HIGH CALIBRE OFFICERS DELAY IN STARTING WORK. MANAGER EXPLAINS POSITION. ■v It would be expected of a company which spent so much time and capital on “making sure” before it began oildrilling, that it would exercise equal care in selecting the men responsible for its practical operations. There are ■ three . main spheres, those of general management, drilling operations, and geology, and each is controlled by officers of. high calibre.. The manager of Coal, Oil (N.Z.) Ltd. is Mr. A, E. Thomas, F.8.A.5., F. 1.1.5., whose successful business experience in Australia suggests-that he has a keen eye for securing the best return for capital, and thoroughly understands tho art of keeping down, to the lowest point comparable with efficiency, that elusive but important factor in large operations known as “overhead.” Selected by the directors from over a hundred applicants, Mr. Thomas had shown his organising ability both in the outside field and in office administration. A close association with large-scale engineering operations was gained by Mr. Thomas through ten years on the staff of the Tasmanian Government hydroelectric scheme, in. which, a capital of over three millions sterling is invested. Mr. Thomas held the position of secretary, and in that capacity took charge of a very large staff. ■ Mr. Thomas explained to an interviewer that he became very interested in oil possibilities when he heard that Coil, Oil (N.Z.) Ltd. was securing the very type of trained scientists for its preliminary operations, and another element which impressed him with the stability of the company, and the promising nature of its plans was that the chairman of directors is Senator J. D. Millen, a past president of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers of Australasia, a gentleman of ‘high repute .in business and in the engineering world. “Although so much money had been spent in Australia and also in New Zealand in a so far vain search for oil in commercial quantities,” remarked Mr. Thomas, “it seemed to me that the methods employed had been long out of date, but that this company intended to work only under the guidance of the soundest scientific knowledge. When I was entrusted with the organisation,. and tlrn responsibility of raising working capital, I was naturally concerned to know what had been done, and I was, informed the combined •brains of the best experts of Switzerland, Germany and Austria were being utilised” LARGE INTERESTS IN DOMINION. “The company has very large interests in the Dominion,” continued Mre Thomas, “for in addition to the property at Omata discovered by the company’s chief geologist, Dr. Leon Bossard, the Mount Arthur area also located by Dr. Bossard, which it controls, equals twelve square miles, the oil structure country within it being about 2js miles in extent, an enormous size of oil structure. ■ ' ■ . “Our holding at Omata is approximately 400 acres, and the company is advised by scientists that beneath it is sufficient oil to provide/not only the needs of this country, but of Australia also, for many years to come. It is well known to most New Zealanders that the Moturoa field near New Plymouth has produced, slowly, over a long period, about one and a half million gallons of oil. Omata is not fai away, but an important point to consider in comparing the relative positions is that to get oil in commercial quantities, an oil structure (a dome) has to be located. Scientific exploration has . definitely proved such a structure to exist beneath the 1 company’s holding at Omata. Nobody can deny the existence of oil in New Zealand, and its very prevalence lias been the undoing of the possibilities of success because the surface indications have encouraged drilling without a preliminary location of the actual oil accumulations. . . “Drilling has commenced at Omata in. accordance with a drilling chart received from the Elbof Geophysical Council of Cassel, Germany, which will only issue such a chart if ’it has definite or enough -assurance of the presence of oil, and the presence of a structure, as has been found at Omata, following intensive field work in the district by the geophysical survey group for nearly two years, their work covering approximately 16 square miles. Certain delays have taken place in the commencement of drilling operations, the reasons for which have not previously been made ( public. The delay was mainly _ due to the existence of large quantities of agglomerates at Omata, and the company was accordingly advised by its drilling expert, Mr. D. J. Tynan, that

additional equipment was required to be imported so that lie could make sure of drilling a perfect hole through this “overburden.” at Omata, down to the sound strata. We did not start drilling to strike difficulties, but preferred to wait for the most suitable equipment and a full supply of spares, so that once the work was put in hand it should be able to go on with no interruption. “Another important reason was that the additional plant had to be. manufactured. The bore is a production hole, 21| inches in diameter —not the small prospecting hole, but one which will handle oil in large quantities—and certain of our plant had consequently to be specially manufactured in America. When the financial depression became so acute in Australia, with the consequent restriction upon credits for importing, some time was spent in arranging the necessary credits in New York to enable the plant to be shipped, but it has now arrived and is operating most efficiently and breaking all drilling records. This difficulty reminds me that it has been estimated that on the present rat® of growth of .oil importations into the Commonwealth, in ten years’ time the whole of the Australian wool clip will be necessary to pay the petrol bill, and that estimate was made when wool was . worth .more, per bale, than it is today. SCIENTTFFIC PROSPECTING. “It is quite patent from recent happenings in Australia,” continued Mr. Thomas, “that the Commonwealth Government, anxious as it is to secure oil •supplies within its own country, is not going to grant further subsidies for prospecting on. the old methods which have proved unsuccessful in New Zealand and Australia. It is going to require the 'use of the latest _ scientific methods in prospecting for oil. “The oil companies in the United (States are to-day spending over two millions sterling per annum in geophysical surveys, and various large oil production companies, having in. view the steady maintenance of supplies of crude oil, employ their own staffs of geophysicists. The British Goiernmcnu also has a considerable interest in. the development of geophysical science, and recently considerable success followed the application of these, methods by English companies in Trinidad. It is recognised that the geophysicist is just as necessary in the work of exploration for oil and minerals as the geologist.”

Lengthy and careful scientific work in. the field, it was explained by Mr. Thomas, precedes the issue of a drilling chart by the Elbof Geophysical Council. The field data has to be forwarded regularly and continuously to Cassel to be worked up by members of the council, each phase of the reports being dealt with separately by an. export in. that particular sphere, who signs 'his section of tho report. • - “We did not decide to start drilling at Omata until the final report of this council had been received, showing justification for such operations. That the Elbof Council is- able to say “No” this' company has discovered, for it received a negative report in respect to another area on which Coal, Oil (N.Z.) Ltd. had conducted the necessary geophysical survey, consequently, .no attempt is being, made to drill in that particular , locality. It is also an interesting fact that Piepnieye'r and Co., the

principals of the Elbof Council, have taken over 20,000 shares in Coal, Oil (N.Z.) Ltd. as part payment of their services in New Zealand.

“I think the investing public of New Zealand will appreciate the precautions taken by bur company to safeguard, as far as scientific knowledge can do so, the interests of those who have and will put capital into the organisation. So far, a considerable proportion of the subscribed capital has come from Australia, which in the event of the production of oil at Omata, would be the biggest customer. The company’s holding is within two miles of New Plymouth’s port, and oil tankers could load in the harbour, the nearest point of New Zealand to the Commonwealth.

“The cost of geophysical surveys, and of the geological exploration work undertaken by the company before deciding where to commence practical operations amounts to £50,000.' Plant of' the most modern description has been im; ported from America at a cost of over £2o'ooo, so that it can be said, fairly, that to the extent of £70,000, the company has shown its confidence in geophysical methods, and in Omata as a producing centre of oil in commercial quantities.”