TARANAKI OIL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1963, 21 January 1914, Page 8

TARANAKI OIL.

VIEWS OF AN EXPERT. PROMISE OF A GREAT FUTURE. v 'Mr,': I". 1,.: Van Kppv fi':ld'manager .oi ..the.' 1.)..' 1,. Peters properties in .' tiio. ■Ma'ricopa'Midway Oillield 111 South- California',' has; been in Taranaki inspecting .at property, held by- a Christchureh ,syndis'ate which commissioned ~him ito do liiis wurk..' .While jn'-Tarahaki he'.mado (lour of'"the';wholo field,';, visit £ ;iiig-;all 'the wells -'.'I think ibe.Taraiiaki field gives promise bi atyery"-great future,!?,, said Alt'? -.Van ..KppsjA-.itu anC .mterviev&iiwitlia DoMi.vioN' reportef/' i yesterda'y! : '.*.' : : "Tl'icy, have. .only, just ip begun':: t0... scratch round 011.it yet, but.tile prospects' look par T ;ticulariy bright now,' since, tho Blenheim ■ well-has begun": to. produce upwards of. . fifty j, barrels., a day.' It is the, '.only.well on the field. : The manager, ■JirivTedorowicz;" ' has got v. the water cemented ofl'.'tho.bore*,"'and his bore is nine.inches' wide at tho bottom,.so-that Jic.'is.prepared to go down any reason;ablo';. depth below tho present depth "of ,'2Boo,'fcefc if necessary. ' The tiest feature of the. well is that the hole js absolutely dry.'fi Water lias been a difficulty 011. the field up till tho present, hut tho .experience; at the Blenheim well proves ..thai iti s'iiot an insuperable difficulty; ■ and.l. tliiuk: it will bo found when they start- boring inland from"' Moturoa'that , tho-'''field..is; of , considerable extent. .There is, a well back from Huiroa which, Cwhcn. I i saw - it;' .had excellent showings of oil-riots of gas;in the bore, . and a little oil.

!';V"I took in tho.wholc Taranaki district in , ' m'yV tour, 'covering. 1200 miles in all. /Wherever there wans■ n- gas or oil seep..ago I saw.it. ~ All.tho bares in Taranaki are small now, and low in capacity; but, I'-think;..-they., will get oil there at fairly ;!high;-pressure yet;. , , and a well "giving at tho rate of 30 or even 100 barrels :;;a day . has no , , groat pressure. When'fthny have learned .the extent of the field, I have no doubt that they will 'sink,.much-'more productive wells than 'tiny , yet discovered. Whether they will ■striko; v tho oil as near tho surface as Alley are finding it now I canno,t say. I ■rathor Uhink- they will f -d it de'op&r. .The big well up there is down 4000 feet, ■but they "are still boring in papa formation., '■'■' It- may bo that wliph they get ..through;-.-'thp. vwpa they will find tho .'■■■■'. oil...'■ ■ From -. what ' .-I saw , " of f " tho. country,.. Ido not ■ think pvHhero , need be any fear that, , ', as 'he had said, the country is ,so broken that oil will not be found except in occasional pockets. ' On tho contrary, tho formation is very even when-you get away from the vokaiiic dobris, for the strata lies practically horizontal with a slight dip towards the 'mountain.- I think' tho. oil is there, .and'.that it-can be reached. It- is only a matter, of getting the right men and ■tha right'methods'to drill continuously .until* tho limits of tho field are defined. ■■ I may say that 1 prefer drilling by the American mother] with a cable shaft, rather than , with tho jointed nole shaft which they use in Taranaki. They discarded the polo method a very long time ago in America, ~.'■'■

■:.-.■ "In considering the capacity'of. your wolls it must bo remembered that, yow oil is worth six times as much' astlio oil from tho Los Angeles fields. , A i){]bairel well here is equivalent to a 300barrel well there, so that it will bo possible to show profit, with much less production here. At any rate I like tho prospects of your field, and I firmly believothafc 1 shall bo back.from California'in a few.months with American drilling machinery and American dhrflers.:..' I will bring men who I blow aro .absolutely the best- in their special linos, men that have been working for mo. for years. My pepplo in America wore interested in New Zealand before I. left;, and I am suro that when I go back. Lean make them more interested.":'.' Mr. Van Epps added that ho wanted to como back to help to. dc« ■velop tho oil industry here, and also to live in "one of the prettiest' places I have-., over be-on in," to nso his own phrase.' "I like- the country, and the scunery, and the people,"' he said with some enthusiasm.

Ate. the Standard Oil Company in Taranaki yet?

,"I don't know," said Mr. Van Epps, "but ■you can bo suro'tli.it tho Standard Oil Company know as much about the Moturoa field as tho people up thoro know themselves. To show .the scale on which tho Standard Oil Company operate, I wili give- yon u pioco of news I have "jnstj had from California . about them. 'They liavc purchased tho jVfiirnliy Oil Company's properties st Wliittior. 14 'miles from T.-os Angeles, mid at Coyoto Hills. 10 miles beyond Wliittior, very '■ valuable properties comprising 8(100 acres of very productive wejls; The production of the propertv now is about 280.000 barrels a month'-. • For this they have paid forty-two million American dollars." '