OIL RESEARCH

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 559, 16 June 1933, Page 6

OIL RESEARCH

N.Z. DEPOSITS PROBABLY LIE OUT FROM SHOjRE. New Plymouth, Saturday. Important developments in oil research, particularly regarding the drilling of well^ in the seabed, have taken place in America lately. It will be remembered that Dr. A. R. Andrew, the geologist retained to report on the oil deposits at New Plymouth, gave an opinion that the main deposit of oil here lay out from the shore. After many oil companies in California had spent sums up to 300,000 dollars in building steep piers 1500 feet out into the ocean a Los Angeles" engineer showed how two-thirds of this expenditure could be saved hy construeting steel islands. Oue has just been completed in 3-8 feet of water and the well drilled through a caisson (water-tight chamber). It is believed that these islands will play a large part in the exploitation of the great reservoirs which are known to exist along the Californian coast. Preparatory to the construction of the first island, the bed of the sea was explored by divers and the depth of the sand over the rocks tested hy hydraulic jets. From a temporary pile wharf a foundation frame was laid in position and the steel island bhilt up. Th application' of solvents to oil strata is said to have led to a great revival in the industry in America. ■ Ahandoned wells are springing to life and the output of the present producing wells is heing inereased. Crude oil comes from hard sandstones, in dome-shaped strata. The oil is ohtained either byi pumping at from a single'well, or forcing it up j oy pressure applied through other wells nearby. Water is isometimes injected to bring the oil to the surface hut has not proved very effective. The solvents are said to flush the oil from the sandstone, and although costly can be salva.ged and used again.