Big Oil Rig On Way To S.A.

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31009, 15 March 1966, Page 17

Big Oil Rig On Way To S.A.

(N.Z P.A. Reuter—Copyright) JOHANNESBURG, March 14. A concentrated search for oil in South Africa took on new significance this week with the news that a huge oil drill was being brought to this country from the Persian Gulf.

Oil experts said the drill, due to arrive in Cape Town in about two months, was of the type usually used only after preliminary surveys have indicated the possible presence of oil. But they said that no conclusion about the extent of oil deposits in South Africa could be drawn without the use of bigger rigs than those at present being used. Mr Jan Haak, Minister of Mines, told journalists in Johannesburg that it would not be right to deduce that the importation of the drill meant that oil had already been found in South Africa. Oil is South Africa’s weakest point in the event of economic sanctions, and the search

for it was stepped up after the United Nations General Assembly voted in November, 1963, to cut off oil supplies to South Africa. The search has been concentrated in northern Natal, where traces of oil were noticed about 10 years ago, and in the arid Karoo region of the northern Cape. The Government has kept very quiet over details of the oil search, although recent official statements have said “encouraging progress” is being made. The Government-owned oil-from-coal undertaking now provides an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of South Africa’s oil requirements. The rest is imported, mainly from the Persian Gulf.