HIDDEN OILFIELDS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1684, 26 February 1913, Page 8

HIDDEN OILFIELDS.

NEAR WELLINGTON,

ARE THEY WORTH EXPLORING.

[By Alfred If. Newman.] Our knowledgo docs not allow us to say in any part of tho'world: "Here is an oilfield," until many wells have been bored from which oil gushes forth. Butfor all that there are in parts of tho world spots where geologists can deduco with very great, probability tho existence or non-existence of an oilfield. Take tho,road from Masterton to Castlepoint, and'look northwards, as far as . Weber. It is bounded on the west by the great limestone range, t-he Puketol Mounts. All this district is honeycombed with natural gas jets—a very favourable indication. Geologists of real scientific merit aro greatly impressed with the probabilities of discovering an oilfield in this district—so many of the conditions are favourable. And there aro no geological reasons why oil should not be found. Everything . looks favourable, and-there is no hostile sign. Saturated Rocks. Many years-ago rocks were discovered in the Akitio-Aohanga district, in tlie • deeper part of river cuttings—valley erosions. These dark green rocks are saturated with petroleum. They reek of oil. These rocks lie deeply covered up with other earth, and only appear .in valleys w'here the overhanging non-oil-bearing rocks have been cut These petro-leum-smelling rocks appear over a considerable area. I hoar that lately the' 'same rocks have been discovered in a deep earth cuttihg in • the neighbourhood of Dannevirko, so that they are already known to be of large extent. " The extent of these oil-bearing rocks, antt th§ presence of numberless gas' jets in a great limestone-district, shon' the scent for oil to be very warm indeed. With so many miles of rocks saturated with oil and-so many inflammable gas jets, one cannot but believe that oil must exist in quantities. These oil-bearing rocks'\and these gas jets show that oil was largely formed in bygone ages. It will only be decided whether oil still exists in quantities . when we have sunk' many wells, but the outlook is excellent. English Capitalists Have Hopes. An English company sent out ono of the world's most celebrated oil and gas expert geologists to investigate the district. He reported so favourably that the company took up a lease of lands in North Puketoi,'south of Weber. The company has got; new costly machinery on the ground, and: is backing their ; expert's .opinion by spending money in boring wells. Another European geologist of note has advised most strongly in favour of oil in tliis district and another company is about to engage in boring operations. . ; • A third: company'(local) has for some time past' been - sinking a well in the Mangaone Valley, 14 miles east of Ekatahuna, and they- too had expert- advice. When these companies have Dored wells down to perhaps 4000 feet', we shall know definitely whether or not there is an oil field here. Other people believe in tho Wairarapa ris' an oil field. Wellington people would probably believe in it, too if only it were in Auckland or Otago or Southland. As it is within our own district, of course we p.6oh-pooh it. Tho company boring in North Puketoi discovered a natural gas jet near where they are sinking, and they use this gas to drive the machinery.. Recently, a fow hundred feet deep, they "struck gas''— a strong flow—another cheering indication for oil. Tlie Mangaono Company, about 300 ft. down, also struck a good flow of gas. This also confirms what I' stated in my first'artic]o that North Wairarapa is a. ..great district, for natural gas. and a really'prov'e'd.unatural gas field. So far tho scont-crows" hotter and hotter; petroleum-saturated rocks, natural, iras jets bubbling out of the' earth's surface, and tho only two wells yet bored in tho, district" hnvp tapped underground stores' ;of natural gas. ' At present these wells : aro comparatively shallow. Natural Gas a Familiar Sign. That such large quantities of natural gas exist, and that rocks stretching over a wide area, are petroleum-saturatedi proves that in by-gone ages Naturo'manufactured oil in quantity in North Wairarapa. We know that it was a great oil area. What we do not know is whether the oil exists in large quantities or whether it has all leaded away in past geologic ages. Oil'has been seen floating on several streams, I believe, at Mangaono, and further north, again proving that oil exists below and encouraging us to hopo that we may find it in quantities. There is an oil field at Taranaki. Ono well, has been flowing for three years, and two others are running. There is oil in creeks in-Inglewood and Stratford. There is oil at Wai-o-tapu, north of Lake Taupo; and '..there is ,oil at Wai-apu, near the East Cane. There is oil escaping from many points*in tho Kotuku district in Westland—l be-; lieye something like 40 barrels have been garnered hero, and oil was for years distilled from shale in Southland. Why disbelieve in Wairarapa oil? I hear that just recently in both the .wells that aro being bored oil has been Been. Thero isyet no uprush of oil, but there is natural gas on the surface, and natural gas in quantities below, and now tho material that is coming up from the bores lias oil in it, which again ' shows .that the scent grows warmer. All the 'reasons for believing in the' existence of an oil-field here aro, excellent. These indications are, I believe, as good" as they wero years ago in California and in Burmah—anddn those, days there' wore scoffers and unbelievers who flouted and jeered, whilst others believed in tho existence of. largo -oil-fields in these countries. '. ■„ .People often say to me: "It is no use looking foi; oil in New Zealand, -the country is too jumbled up, the oil has. run away." I liave heard' just the saiiio' thing ever since I was a. child about all mining in New Zealand, but tho West Coast gold-mines have been going for years, and so has coal-mining at Westland and mil go on long after all of us are dead and forgotten. Questions Easy of Answer, There is oil to tho west in Taranaki, oil.to the north in the Thermal Springs district, and . oil-saturated rocks to 'tho east in Wairarapa. Why not oil in the lands west of the Ruahino and Tararua Ranges? Tho indications are favourablo —a limestone country,., a land holding some brine'springs. There is abundant natural gas in Wairarapa to the east, aud in Taranaki in tho west: and hera are natural gas springs and swamps reeking with the smell of petroleum. From the lio of tho country it is probable that any hidden stores of natural gas or oil may Jio at deeper levels than at New Plymouth or' in Wairarapa. If they do lie at deeper levels, there would be fewer surface indications, and might be more oil and more gas below. ... Suroly the facts I have cited aro enough to mako even the hardest scoffer reflect. Is it- not time wo Wellington people took a real practical interest in these two great important: questions:— ' (1) Doe:.- Wellington possess natural gas fields?. (2) Does Wellington possess oil-fields? To the first question there can Ira no ha',lf-hearfe(T answer. North Wairarapa is a natural gas field almost ccrtainly Manawatu and Rangitikei possess natural gas in merchantable quantities. Dons Wellington possess "an oil-field? Tho reply is that no place in the world is a payable oil-field until many wells have been sunk; but tho Wnirarnpa indications are many, and aro most exccllont.