The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1937. THE SEARCH FOR OIL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 276, 20 November 1937, Page 8

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1937. THE SEARCH FOR OIL

yiiE search for oil goes on all over the world because oil i

power. The advantages of oil as a fuel are that it can be so easily transported, that its handling costs are low, and that its uses as a fuel are cleaner and more efficient, than Ils chief rival, coal.

Fuel is another word for power, for when fuel is consumed heat is generated and power produced. During the last century it was more economic to take raw materials to coal than to take coal to raw materials. The result was that industries needing a heavy power-consumption moved to the coal-bearing areas or to adaeent districts. Tins cut down the transportation costs of coal and so reduced the costs of production.

Toward the end of the century, however, a change was brought about by the development of the transmission of electricity. Electricity was for a long time, and may still be. the cheapest method of transmitting power over distances. Once the power was generated the electricity power-line provided a cheap transmission. It followed immediately that many industries which were light in power consumption could operate quite satisfactorily at a distance from the coal measures. The result was a consequent wider geographical spread of industry. Later on another development, occurred, and that was the perfection of the internal combustion engine, which is to-day the latest development of power economics. The effect of this development was twofold: it permitted a small unit, of power to be run with a minimum of inconvenience by the supply of motor spirit, and it also gave to the power unit, itself a greater mobility than had ever been dreamed of. The fabled Magic Carpet was not far distant, for not only could man move over the surface of the earth by the use of oil fuel and the internal combustion engine, but he could also enter the atmosphere ami 11,v like a bird.

These conditions have revolutionised life itself. Dean Inge has observed that the motor-car has divided 'he world into two classes—the quick and the dead—but it has done something equally more dramatic, it has thrown the emphasis which once rested,on coal to an entirely different product, oil. The two may yet be connected with each other, but that is not sufficiently accomplished to enable the search for oil to be abandoned. Crude oil is contained in the earth surface and rests at, various levels. Its nature is to migrate upwards, and that accounts for oil seeping to the surface of the earth as it does in Taranaki. But the oil prospector is seeking not seepages, but sealed stores winch have been retained by the earth. In his search ho is studying the formation of the earth over wide areas; expeiicnee lias shown that drilling on quarter-acres is not profitable. and to-day those engaged in deep-level boring refuse to operate on small areas. The Bill now before Parliament makes provision for the proper exploitation of the lower strata of New Zealand, at the same time safeguarding the interests of the State and the users of the surface. The cost of drilling fo? oil is now so heavy that it must be undertaken over a wide area, and those who engage in such operations must be assured that when they prove an oil store exists below ground it shall be reserved to them-selves-and not be made available by the next holder of a quarteracre of surface.