PETROLEUM NEWS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13156, 5 May 1906, Page 5

PETROLEUM NEWS.

■fr ■ ...;•;■■■■ k! - — "" — ~—~:-::vv-;;v::~ — ~:- : :vv-; ;v: : f93u?rc'.are u O new dQvelopinents to fceport. . : No further sales are reported, quoItations ranging between £40. y \ -,-: ■ Hr; H. W-eston, one ot ; 'the directors, 'Mr Fail-, the inana/g'er, , ai*e. expected back frpn-l Wellington th h evening-. : . '•; '. ; - '■<, ■■ ' ■■•■.- ,/;■■- .. •"■•.■■..■ ••■■

DR, BELL INTERVIEWED.;, ; o '

BOKETHING ABOUT PETROLE'uM.

in an interview with a .Wellington Post reporter,: Jjv. Ball, Director of the Geological Survey, stated that the , general conception of <the origin of^petroletiin, was that it 'was derived liy the'das'tillation oflorganic matter contained in;. strata' wlik'lugavio iorth the petroleum. According to some &uthoritdes . the dis i till i a'tiori' Was the.result of slow decomposition, , and to others 7|fc the ;; momentaiy heat p*o^ached "by volcanic explosion. '; .'■ -'The great oilfields w«cc &t\, |3aku (on- the Caspian Sea), iii lnrain.-ij, lialy, and in Roumania. iA:uierica z\-, so possessed very -extensive oilfields'. lii Canada a iield had r' eeen tly/ I'ef ii m on: the slojics 0f the Rockies, which it Avtis believed :would eventually beiconie the lai*^ost iii the world. It was just beiny opc-u-ed up. Before he canieto Now Zealand, Dr. Bell was over the field, and he said it extends over a great area of country. •"'"■ One of the most distinct ( evidettces of. petrpleum was i[~v. existenc.; oi .little t-li^ets of oil on the surface of pools pf Avate.r. All along the lUase 6f tho itocliiLcs ii> . Alborta you ebuJcl

see these, especially an the country ti'«?ui- iho Aiha^Aasca. iNatiiral gases also escaped' from. the grouoid. Jie mien tioned that smne f boiHsh persoij s had lighted fires in different pliacos^ with bad results.' Ho remembered seeing onerjlace where a nre had ,been lighterl about*, lour years ago, an'u vhe flanics still cohtimtcd, shobt;ihg as nigh as 200 ft in; the air. Where petroleum oodurred it was, invariably found that f «onisidie!raible thicknesses of loose pervious strata (like Sandstone) were separated by relatively narrow thicknesses of impervipus strata (such as olay, slate, etc.) . These strata 'were folded into anticlines and ; sync|ines. From the ./anticline the pbtroleuin was obtained' ; ■amd if it was dbme-shaped 5 aai<d the I 'boring was right on the apex -then a\ mjuoh more regiilar afed rioher flow wouid probably be obtained. , • , V"Whether the characteristics of the Btr&ta in New Plymouth weirei similar to thosa stated aWave o<je was unable to . say, but Mr Fair assured himi they were. \ The import aricei of- the- anticlines could not be o!\ r <vr-estimated.. Pi*actica.lly all over the woi'ldi the anticjliries weic the 'first reqluasiite in a good fieTH. '■ Reverting to ths contentioh of spuie auitihorTties that. the existence of petroleum was in Dart. • due tto volcanic aiotion, Dr. Bell pom-ted out that •Mount Ejfmont was no^W distant from the present field. He could not, however,: give any persona!! expression of opinion about ; thfe. field or its prospects. ... \ .