PETROLEUM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8113, 18 May 1906, Page 2

PETROLEUM.

HISTORY OF THIS BORING.

THIRD AND FOURTH BORES.

In a letter to Sir Julius Vogel or 6th Soptember, 1895, Mr Samuel wrote " I saw a paragraph in an English newspaper about our having struck oil, 7000 gallons a day. I wonder how , these idle tales get about P Our old bore is plugged up and abandoned, and a new one, about a mile inland, is down 837 feet, but no sign of oil. We have enough money to put down about four bores. If we don't get payable oil with those ws shall abandon the project altogether, and wind up. We have put no shares on the market, but are finding the capital ourselves." On the 7th September the depth was 860 ft, the strata being sand, gravel and native shells; and on the 10th, 900 ft, the strata being papa; and on the 14th, 970 ft; and on the 19th, 1020 ft. At this time Mr Fair reported no sign of oil in this bore, and stated that in all 1160 gallons of oil had been obtained from No. 2 bore. On 26th September the depth reached was 1100 ft, on the 28th 1130 ft, on the 3rd Ootober 1200 ft, on the Bth 1250 ft, on the 12th 1300 ft. Since 900 feet the strata had consisted of papa, but at 1300 ft streaks of sandstone were met, On 17th October a depth of 1360 feet was reached, the strata being papa, and the sandstone streaks having been found to be only 3ft thick. On the 26th Ootober a depth of 1534 ft was reached, and the strata boing still papa, and there being no sign of oil or gas, Mf It. G. Fair recommended that the casing should be drawn, and the bore filled and abandoned, and that a new bore be sunk on Barrett Reservo, the property of Mr W. J. Honeyfield. This was approved by the directors, and the plant was shifted and re-erected there. No. 4 Bore. —" Honeyfield's " was commenced on the 11th November.. The first 62ft was drilled in red clay, and papa wis then reaohod. no boul-! dera being encountered, Mr E. G. Fair then left for Sydney, and Major Parris was appointed a director to act in his absence, the drilling operations being in charge of Messrs Drader and McListers, and Mr Samuel acting as managing director in Mr Fair's absence. The strata passed through varied considerably, the papa only extending a few feet, and being succeeded by gravel and Stones and sand at intervals. Night and day shifts were started on the 18th at a depth of 90ft. On the 26th November, the depth was 131 ft, in sand and gravel; on the 3rd December, 420 ft, in papa; on the 6th, 520 ft j on tie 17th, 640 ft; and on the 21st, 700 ft, the papa having continuod until that depth, when sandstone was met with, but it proved only a thin streak, under which was papa. On the 3rd January the depth was 800 ft, water being shutoif at 785 ft, but a fur ther flow of fresh water with sand was met with at 810 ft. At 825 ft a "hard streak" was found on 7th January. On the 11th, the depth was 890 feet in papa with water shut off, but caving somewhat at the bottom, and Mr Fair was cabled to for advice, in accordance with which 5-inch casing was sent down. On the 20th January; oil was struck, and an explosion took place, followed by mud saturated with oil. After boring about 2ft deeper oil was struck, accompanied by gas in great quantity. Mr Samuel's report of 23rd January proceeds: "Mr Fair will arrive tomorrow, and meanwhile the 2-inch pump has been put down, and about six barrels (252 gallons) of oil pumped, although it was only working this morning. It seems of the same character as that in Np. 1 bore. The gas we havo already utilised instead of fuel, so that none of the latter will bo required for pumping, and the drillers say there is little doubt that there will be no need for fuel if we. bore in proximity to (he present bore. This also means at present a saving of about i'o a week, and if we pump the present bore and at the same time drill another the saving will be double. It is impossible to give an estimate of the field until after Mr Fair has arrived ind tested it. Meanwhile, the dnllors sxpress themselves as certain that it is i payable well. There is not the slightest trace of water." On 27th Januray, Mr Samuel telegraphed to Sydney: "Fair's opinion payable well; at least ten barrols; impossible say how much more." In his etter to the Sydney chairman of 28th Fanuary, he wrote" Mr Fair states hat he finds it impossible to give any •eliable estimate of what the >ore will yield, because the lepth, the thickness of the oil, the nuddy nature of the vein, and the itrong pressure of gas combino to present the present pump in use from forking continuously. From time to imo he'purops for an hour or two, the esult being usually about 6 to 10 larrels, and then the oil ceases to orae. He states that the leathor enps if the pump get worn out in the eourse if a few hours' pumping, and I gather 00, from his remarks that, as the oil s reduced in the bore by continuous lumping, and the pump sucks itself, it iccomes choked by the thick substance -oiUaiud almost—in the ail vein, " There is no water whatever in the iore. Our personal deductions from ''hat we gather from all sources of inormation is that, adopting Mr Fair's tatement that he has no doubt the rell will run continuously at about 0 barrels (about 44 gals each per iem), it ia doubtful if it will produce nore than that quantity!" The Company then commencod sup. lying oil ia considerable quantities to arious purchasers at 15s per bar'el at lie bore—barrels being found by purhascrs.

The actual depth at which oil was struck was reported by Mr Fair at 915 feet, and Mr Fair recommended that a bore should be commenced on Mr Putt's farm—about 200 yards off. Mr Fair then set about endeavouring to clear the mud vein, and on the 6th Feb. reported that it was giving him a great deal of trouble, and that he had not succeeded, and unless he could exhaust the mud he would drill deeper. Shortly afterwards Mr Fair reported that it was impossible to clear the bore of mud, and that he had resumed boring. On the 15th a depth of 1010 feet was reached without any further supply of oil being struck, and the casing was lifted back to where the oil bores first struck, and pumping resumed; but no oil was obtained.

In accordance with Mr Fair's recommendations the directors determined to loose the 6-inch casing (fixed at 825 ft) and send it down as far as possible, the 5-inch casing being meanwhile withdrawn. Previously to this water had been effectually shut of! ever since oil had been struck.

On the 24th April, Mr Fair reported that he thought thore had been ft fall of papa above the oil vein,. and that oil and gas had been thus shut oft'. The 6-inch casing was there at 980 ft., and a day or two after all hope of obtained payable oil from the 915 feet vein was abandoned and drilling resumed.