OIL IN POVERTY BAY

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1933, Page 9

OIL IN POVERTY BAY

INVESTIGATION BY GEOLOGISTS.

METHOD OF DEDUCTION.

The future of New Zealand as .an oilproducing country may depend on a geological investigation which is now being made in the Poverty Bay region, under an arrangement with the Taranaki Oil Company, by representatives of the Vacuum Oil Company. The party comprises four eminent geologists, Dr. E. Jablonski, Messrs. C. Bremmer, M. Steineke and N. Osborn, and their report, which is expected to take about two years to prepare, will determine the company’s future action in this field.

Mr. Bremmer, who has been making a brief visit to Christchurch, said it was impossible to evaluate the oil-producing possibilities of the region until, the investigation was completed. The party had been in New Zealand since last September and had, until August, 1934, to make their final report to the company they represented. The area under examination was roughly 100 miles by 50 miles.

Their object, said Mr. Bremmer, was to map the geology of the region and from these data to deduce its oil-pro-ducing possibilities., In other -words, the presence of oil was to.be deduced from the presence of certain favourable geological conditions. Sometimes mistakes were made. He recalled one occasion where a company spent 1,000,000 dollars in boring before a stratum was reached which proved definitely that oil was not present In an untried country, of course, the investigations had to be carried out with greatest care.