Drilling For Oil In King Country

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30962, 19 January 1966, Page 16

Drilling For Oil In King Country

(New Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON, January 18. Engineers and geologists are preparing this week for an exploration which may determine the future of the King Country.

On rolling hill country, about 20 miles south of Taumarunui, they are preparing a site for oil drilling. It is hoped that the big drill will begin working by this time next week.

Intial investigations by the American concern behind the search appear favourable, but. according to Mr R. A. W. Brown, engineer in charge of drilling, “oil exploration is a gamble anywhere.” The King Country site at Kaitieke, is adjacent to Shell. B.P. and Todd’s field, which has already yielded natural gas at Kapuni. Geologists are of the opinion that the structure of the Kaitieke area is similar to Kapuni. 1000 ft Deep The first King Country bore will go down to a depth of 1000 ft. It is expected to take between four and six weeks to' complete this, and future investigation and drilling in the area will be decided by the success or failure of this bote. The drilling is being done by Brown Bros., of Hamilton, for the Anzpac Petroleum Corporation, of Dallas, Texas, a combination of several large) American oil companies cur-, rently investigating several sites in Australia and New Zealand.

Between £70,000 and £BO,OOO worth of drilling equipment is being assembled on the Kaiti-

eke site owned by Mr R. Wakeling. The equipment has been specially purchased by the firm for oil exploration.