NIGERIAN OIL FIELDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 54, 27 November 1907, Page 5

NIGERIAN OIL FIELDS.

ITS NAVAL IMPORTANCE.

Government experts who have visited the territory aro convinced' .that before long Nigeria will bo ono of the greatest oil producing regions in the world, and an "Express representatives was informed by Mr. H. J. Brown, chairman of ono of the principal Algerian oil prospecting companies, that the Admiralty has almost completed plans for tho establishment of a liquid fuel station for the Navy at Lagos, the seaport of Nigeria. The discovery of oil in any Buihcicnt quantity will not only raise the colony to a high rank among Imperial assets, but it will mean tho superseding of steam coal by liquid fuel .in the British Navy. And for the British Navy to adopt opo'nly liquid fuel is for all navies to do; so. Then will bo seen tho greatest boom in tho oil industry that has ever been experienced. The naval authorities have been convinced for a considerable time of the superiority of liquid fuel, either alone or in conjunction with some other, but strategic reasons havo imposed silence and dolay. It would be poor policy to ■'declare .to the world that one of Britain's groat sources of strength, her steam coal, was to be superseded unless somewhere within the_ British Empire there wore oilfields of sufficient magnitude to enable all British needs to be supplied without being depondent —at any rato in time of war —on foreign supplies*,.., .

WAR SUPPLIES.

At present, practically the only largo sources of supply of tho crude oil used in the Navy are tho United States and Russia. While unlimited quantities of this are accessiblo in times of peacd,: it would become contraband of war immediately on the outbreak of hostilities. / • ■•' ■

It is tho hitherto untapped oil resources of Nigeria, which have suddenly invested that part of tho world with such importance, and made tho peaceful control of it so vital. To those potential oilfields may be traced the decision to construct railways, and in every way to facilitate tho complete control of the country.

A remarkable ordinance for the regulation of tho oilfields has just been adopted, with the approval of tho Legislative Council of Southern Nigeria, and signed by tho Governor, Sir Walter Eegrton, K.C.M.G. In this ordinanco important clauses are incorporated empowering the Government to purchase oil from licenso-holdcrs at any time, and in the event of war actually to take over J&o works of private fira&i ,