PETROLEUM NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 53, 26 October 1912, Page 2

PETROLEUM NEWS.

INDUSTRY IN NEW ZEALAND. Writing under date 21st September, the London correspondent of the Pu-t says the steamer Niwaru, which is now due to leave Glasgow for New Zealand, will take an additional 320 tons of the refinery which being erected at New Plymouth, for the Taranaki, New Zealand Oil Wells Co., Ltd. The vessel should reach New Zealand about the middle of November. The first shipment, some 170 tons, was made at the beginning of August, and it is expected that the last one will

be made about a month from this date. The work of making and erecting the refinery, which, when completed, will be capable of handling 250 barrels of oil per day, is being done by Messrs A. F. Craig and Co., of Paisley, and everything is being made to have the refinery completed in March or April next year. Mr J. D. Henry, the company’s expert, has visited Paisley this week for the purpose of making a progress report for the Earl of Ranfurly and the directors. It is possible that there may be some delay I in getting delivery of the boilers. This is due to an extraordinary congestion of'orders at the steel works, and Messrs Craig and Co. are finding it impossible to get supplies of plates at the present time. Otherwise the work is well advanced. The total weight of the plant and machinery will not be under 700 tons. The new Parker rotary drilling machine has been shipped to the property, and four of the leading members of the refinery and drilling staff have already reached New Plymouth. ' MEXICAN OIL INDUSTRY. Consul Wilson, of Tampico, is enthusiastic about the prospects of the Mexican oil industry. The Tampico oil region, he writes, bids fair to be one of the world’s greatest oilfields, and he quotes the following figures showing the progress of production:— Percentage of World’s Barrels. Production 1900-6 ... 1,000,000 1907 ... 1,000,000 0.38 1908 ... 3,481,410 1.22 1909 ... 2,488,742 0.84 1910 ... 4,531,826 1.38 1911 ... 12,692,319 3.70 It seems probable that the 1912 production of Mexico will amount to 20,000,000 or 30,000,000 barrels, thus bringing Mexico from the position of seventh in the world’s production of petroleum up to that of third in importance. The development of the Tampico oilfields has progressed to such an extent during the past year that Mexico from being an importer of approximately 1,000,000 barrels of crude and refined oil during the year 1910 became an exporter of more than 700,000 barrels of crude oil dining 1911.