CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1055, 20 August 1930, Page 11

CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS

OIL IN TARANAKI MANAGING DIRECTOR ARRIVES Coal Oil, New Zealand, Limited, now boring at Omata, near New Plymouth, expects to find oil in large quantities. Mr. R. J. Lea Wright, managing-direc-tor of the company, is confident that the predictions of the scientists which the company has employed will come true. He arrived from Sydney by the TJlimaroa yesterday to visit the oilfields at Omata, where the company has installed an up-to-date plant under the supervision of several highly-paid officials from Mexico. Mr. Wright says that five conditions are demanded if oil is to be obtained in payable quantities. These are: (1). The services of a good practical oil geologist. '(2). Good oil-bearing land. (3) Further investigations to tell how the drilling should be done. (4) A drill which will penetrate ail soils and earth layers. (5) Expert drillers. He claims that the company has complied with all these conditions, and that the main supply of oil will be found at a depth of 5,000 feet or a little lower. Air. Wright maintains that his company is using casings in ,the drills which have never been known in New Zealand. The borings are down to a depth of 1.980 ft. with a 16in. casing, and at a depth of 5,400 ft. the casing will be 8 5-Sth in. EXPERTS CONFIDENT German and Swiss geophysicists, who were paid large salaries by the company to make investigations in New Zealand, are confident that there are large quantities of oil to be found at Omata, and th© geologists, who have been investigating there for some years, are also enthusiastic. Ten tons of instruments have been used in the investigations, and the reports of the geophysicists are sent to Germany for confirmation. Testing has been done in five different ways. Five expert drillers have been brought from Mexico and paid large salaries. Air. Wright maintains that the company would not do this if it were not sure of success. A tank capable of holding 250,000 gallons of oil has been erected near the bores. The New* Plymouth wharves, from which the oil would be shipped, are only two miles in a direct pipe line from the wells at Omata.