PETROLEUM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 253, 19 October 1908, Page 4

PETROLEUM.

BETTER PROSPECTS AT MOTUROA.

At 10 o'clock oil Saturday morning ilr. Simpson reported to the directors of the TaranaUi Oil Company that i;e had sonic jOO feet of oil in the casing of Xo. i well, part of which was pure and a small portion mixed with the debris from the mud vein which was struck a little while ago. The iron tanks on hand were being moved over to No. 2 to hold the oil. Air. Simpson informed the chairman that he could not yet estimate the probable yield, as it might settle down to a two-barrel well or develop to lifty barrels per day or even more. The directors state that shareholders should not be led away by til's, as it is impossible yet to say what the prospects may be, font they can rest assured that they will be promptly informed.

The oil continued to rise in the bore during the nay.

There was considerable business done in Taranaki Petroleum shares on Saturday, and a sharp rise in price was recorded. ■AIIE OIL PROSPECT* SACRIFICED l'Olt DEPTH!

Captain liarry Cleveland, late of Ohio writes to the New Zealand Times a follows: -

"At no time, as at present, during the past two years, has there been such keen interest shown ill substantial circles to make a determined effort to settle the vexed .question: Call petroleum lie obtained ill payable quantities in Xew Zealand'/ Therefore may I have space to give some views on economy in location for test' wells. •'.My first consideration is the value of surface indications, that is, seepage that emanates from petroleum ilcposlis, the gas being the vapor thrown oil' from these deposits. '"This oil and gas may he traced at intervals in Xew Zealand' from East Cape to llokitika. Surface indications of petroleum and gas are generally misleading, and yet these .surface indications are always valuable to the experienced petroleum geologist or well engineer. There are two principal classes of these seepages, those which are common to oil fields, and those which owe their significance to coas,tal plain oils. "But a seepage at the earth's surface does not indicate the exact location of ail oil Ikhlv. The two may be, and generally are, miles apart. Usually surface indications are scattered throughout an area which is many times that of an oil pool. It is not to be inferred that the escape of u large amount of gas is a. better indication of the presence of oil than that of a small amount. Most large oil liclds are marked by modest indications.

"A 'visit to Moturoa In Juno, 1006, con viuccd nie that the water was not shut oil' at or near the 2240-foot lewl, tin; depth of this well, for lrail it been they would have shut oil' all seepage of oil that was coming into the well, anil the oil would have been forced by the gas pressure to the earth's surface from between the wall of the well and the casing, wliich was not the case at lli.it time, and an operator was counselled to start a bore at a much higher level towards Mount liginont, even if he h id to encounter a considerable depth of scoria at the surface. There have been to this date about 400,000 wells bored for (petroleum in different parts of the world, and' nearly all tlie best-paying wells range in depth from 400 to 1200 feet. In Canada they rarely «xceed 800 feet; in Pennsylvania from 400 to 1200 feet; wliile in Colorado, Wyoming, Rou ; mania, and llussia they range from to 1200 feet; and at Los Angeles about 1000 feet in depth. It is certain all wells bored from 1200 to 5000 feet in depth have not produced sufficient petroleum to iimy '3O ,per cent, of the cost ot pjunt anil labor. "1 do not say that 'payable petroleum cannot be produced even below a 100Dfoot sea level, but in my opinion it will not justify the expenditure, at least in new fields.

"Of the many theories set forth to account for the origin of (petroleum and natural gas, probably the one that best applies to New Zealand is the theory ot chemical origin. Both .petroleum ail l natural gas arc the result of natural distillation of the hydrocarbons in the rocks through a process of s low spontaneous heat or from the reaction of one mineral upon another—for example, sea-water percolating through fissures ill the rocks. This rea'ches the heated interior, and, coming in contact with pyrites of iron combined with carbon at a high temperature, produces hydrocarbons which, under condensation, a.'3 forced back at high pressure through the stratum in the form of petroleum, the natural gas Ifeing the vapor thrown oil from it. Thus it is claimed that Iwdi oil and gas are in constant process of formation. 11. Byasson. in IS7I. and M il'endlejeir, in 1577. chemists, produced ill their bibnratories petroleum by -similar chemical action, and they, with )!ei'thelot, the famous French chemist, sunport. this theory."