TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81917, 1 February 1907, Page 4

TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

A HOPEFTL OUTLOOK.

(Otago Daily Times) The possibilities of the Taranaki oil holds arc admittedly great, and operations are proceeding apace everywhere The. New Plymouth Petroleum Company, for instance, has just advanced a big stage m its initial work in that an order has quite recently been placed to-Jate oil boring plant, and that a head taller and expert has been engaged to manage the company's works Mr James Nelson, the promoter of the -New Plymouth Petroleum Company was m October last commissioned bv the company to proceed to America to secure the necessary plant en«-i''> an expert, and at the same tim"'report on' the oil fields of California. Mr .Nelson has just returned from \,nenca, and in tee course of a conversations made some interesting comparisons between tiie C'aiifovniaii oi ; fields and the Taranaki fields-comparison., which are vastly in favor of the lat'cr V\ lnle in California Mr Nelson visited all the principal oil ficld's-sue!i as Coiinga, Bekersfiold, Lo.s Angleos, and •Santa Barbara. In these fields are hundreds of wells down to a depth of 3000 ft, while a great number exceed that depth. On the Coiinga field alone there arc some thirteen different companies operating, and as many as »80 wolis working. While reconnisln" the extensiveness of the fields" there Mr Nelson nowhere saw any well with a How of oil that could compare with the Hows that are to be found in Taranaki The fame of the Taranaki oil fields has already reached America. The oil obtained over the Califomiau field is what is known as asphaltumbase, a crude class of oil. which, in the majority of cases. j„ ol ,|y nS)1(1 for purposes of fuel. In Taranaki tin- oil is what is known as paraflin-liase— a very much superior oil. The Caljfornian oil i, only worth 111 cents CJ'/ail) per barrel at'.he bore's mouth whereas the Taranaki oil is worth aat the bore's mouth. Notwithstanding the great, difference in [nice, the Califoniian companies pay immense dividends, and the companies are all profitable concerns. The best flow of oil seen on any of the fields was at Coiinga, were 700 barrels were being obtained in 24 hours. The How from the 280 wells in (he Coiinga, lieids averages from 50 to 100 barrels a day This is the latest exploited field, ami wells are still being put down there in all direedous. As regards strata and configuration of the country, the Coiinga field is a facsimile of the Taranaki field, but as regards oil both in the matter of quantity and quality there is no comparison whatever. The pressure is nothing like what it is in Taranaki. The Taranaki Oil Company, for instance, has a "gusher" with a pressure of 1401b to the square inch. Nothing 'enm (approach that 5n (i,<l Western States, where the oil is pumped up in most case,- slowly and laboriously, Mr Nelson succeeded in obtaining the services of a Mr Hunger, the head driller for the Associated Oil Wells 1 Company. Mr Hunger has the credit of sinking the deepest well in America, and has bad a long experience in oilboring. The expert and machinery should arrive in tiie colony within 'a month from date. Everything should be in readiness for boring. Mr Nelson is confident that the various companies in the Taranaki oil field have a very big future before them.