TARANAKI OIL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1948, 3 January 1914, Page 6

TARANAKI OIL.

EXPERT TROM CALIFORNIA. SOURCES NOT TAPPED. "PLENTY OF AMERICAN MONEY." „ ■i's£ : -An'£oil^^^ leastCap'?go<>d.-as : '-cauld r be obtained. aiiy : ! where;, is to. repoit present-" ly-.on big'oil', area'ill Taninaki. -'- lie is ..Sir. .1; J j.-. A an - Epps, »bo>v> in.\ Weir lington,:-but"at ■home .he is 'field/manager, of thft D.' ' L; ..Petrio. oil properties in California,/ .properties! which' constitute.tho holding of.,tho Pacific Petroleum -Company, oi' which- ■ rlv.. Pet rib: i s I still head. 1 ;. Van Epps has been 'brought.'-, up in ; -tho.:,sniell and spray, of oil-wells ail/hisiife, and he is.now say 40 years "-of age;;.:, lie was born on tlio. I Pennsylvania field, but fifteen : years j ago lie moved over, to the newer and now the bigger-.field near Los Angeles. The output iof this "new Midway'field last "year was ? bne hundred million barrels oi oil, which makes it the biggest field in:'-tho world;; . .To this total , tho Peter's.- properties;' contributed at tlio rate of'uo,ooo barrels-a.month. --, From tho Midway -. field - the Standard': ■'. Oil ; Company havo'.three.-pipo lines running 300 miles into Port. Richmond,. where . the biggest refinery, in the. .world is situated. ' Theso pipes ' will .-. carry 100,000-barrels-of oil a day.' There- arc also other pipe-lines, .'and train 1-oads of oil go out day and li'ight', ■ '.'ln spito cf.all this," said.Mr. Van Epps to a Dominion, interviewer, "tho producer is-having a hard time, trying to cope .with the deman3, and in California wo are constantly drawing oily* : storage. -. This shows of ■course,-tho limitless demand for oil. Mhy, there is• hot a pound of, coal burnt inLos Angeles'.. 1 Our.locomotives and all our industries use oil fuel; ami m fivoi years .ire will .havo a-million people in Los Angeles without any doubt whatever. Wo have. 15,000-more school children- in : Los Angeles than in San Frah.cisco, and, we have now the biggest city 6n .the Pacific Coast." •' ■ So much .for- what the development of oil has'doilo-for California. ' 1 ■

The Seurce Noi Touclißd.

les, I . hqvoj heard about your oil deposits. I have been very much interested in theni for. the.last two years, and I havo read every thing I could find concerning them. 1 heard your country iwis a very fine .country,, all green, and our place-is 'all,"yellow for t«n months of the year, so I thought, I HMgnt huvo 3, vacation here,- when I was asked to. report on' tliis . property in iaranaki;

"Prom what I can learri about Now Zealand oil. I am sure thoy havo not the source of supply yet, They are oniy .getting, seepage. The big comP°»y ™ laranalii have a production of only 200 barrels a week. That cannot come from any: source of supply. There is no eonsiderablo, volume of oil where such a small flow conies tfoni. In Califorma' we often strike a small strata of f' Riving, say, 10 barrels a day a hundred •.feet.-/above, the real" oil fU■ • n W.' 1,0 ■ attention to licm) small.; streaks-we used to, hut w do not . now—wo ■ continue . right • downtill wo hit the mam oil. Then we start to produce. I think the oil industry in New Zealand has been held back bv. tho lack of experience of those in control, and until very recently by lack of modern machinery.. I beliovo they have tried to pet some of our good men from America, but there is no reason why thev should conic here; they aro getting good wages in our country, among our own people, and thev do not come.' I could have gono to India several times, but I pretorred to stay at home. And even tfio best of jimchiuerv is useless to a company if it is not directed bv a man who knows. I think New Zealand will eventually become prominent in oil production, for*. I ifopl sure that sooner or later someone will find the main source and set- good "producing wells. There should be pools of oil in all those parts where, seepages ■ occur, . .

American Money Available, ' "If you can'get .your-, oil, here in .'sufficient quantities.'it!'ivill ; .'bo immensely valuable. Yoiir oil .is not a fuel oil everything'.-.in it can bo refined into petrol, kerosene,engine oils," cylinder oils, and tho heavier residue is mostly paraffin wax. Our oil ■' in America is of asphaltum-base,-'and there'is a lot of residue, which is only, useful for road-making.," Our crude oil is worth only about 2s. a barrel, and yours is worth about 12s. > If we can find some good oil up there, thero will,bo plenty of American, money to come over hero to develop the New Zealand field- Tho people with whom I am -connected will put money' over hero if niy report- is favourable.' ' ■ No (nsuperablo Difficulties. - "The only difficulty about boring is to get down the depth necessary to tap the oil. Unfortunately this New Zealand field is very deep, between 3000 and 4000 'feot, and, up .ill just recently they have not been able to get down more than a "(cry few bores to that depth. I still say .they have' missed the main body of the oil. It might bo deeper,-or it might lie at some. little distance from tlio present bores. Tlio depth of the oil makes it a hard field to explore, and makes tho proposition., of working it more of a gamble, but there should be no difficulty at all about getting down to' 4000 feet with the right macßiuery.aml tho right methods, aiid the right men." Mr. Van Epps insisted also that oil 'prospecting is a work that can 'only..bo done with any hope of success. by the. practical j mail. . In America even geologists .who had made a special study of oil right on tlio fields found themselves utterly at a loss when they attempted to locate oil. Tho area which Mr. Van.Epps goes to inspect is of 17 square mile's, and is held by tbo International Petroleum and Minerals Development. Corporation, with headquarters in Clirislchurch. - This, as he said, is an'immense area for ono proprietary, if tlie land should, .prove to bear oil. Tho Medw ay 'field, in which there aro 4000 producing wells, is _ 25 miles long, and from one to five miles wide. ■ After lookinc: over Tarauaki, Mr. Van Epps .thinks ho may look at somo of the areas where oil manifestations bocur on-,tho East Coast. ~.