PETROLEUM NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 222, 25 October 1909, Page 4

PETROLEUM NEWS.

OIL FIND AT NOUMEA. By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyrigllt Sydney, Oct. 23 Noumeau advices state that an Australian oil syndicate has struck a good How of oil near Noumea, at a depth of 750 feet. Mr. 1). Berry writes to our contemporary as follows:

The mountain has at length brought forth its mouse, but as something personal may again be found in this ii will not furtniT pursue the subject. With respect to the partly-tilled barrels of oil, the facts were Uiat the secretary telephoned to No. 2 bore, asking that live barrels of oil be put on a truck for shipment. Upon instructing a workman to do so he came back into the derrick

and reported to the driller and myself that they were barely more than half full, and asked what he should do. 1 replied that, for the company's credit, they must filled, and "told 'Him whence to obtain the necessarily oil. Later 1 found that none of those .l.i

stock were full, and advised the secretary of it, with the result that a mm was sent to till them. Noticing that this took some time, 1 asked the reason, an,l was informed that it took from Hire to live buckets of oil to fill each barr-i. Thereupon 1 had all the barrels removed from the store, and, naturally, looked for indications of apparent leakage, as

did the man also, but none was perceptible—in fact, over the whole lloor the grass was scarcely soiled, and there was positively no leakage from the to > tier. Messrs. Carter and lielliiugcv were down occasionally while I was there, and I asked them, as men, to , state whether or not they then saw any . evidences of leakage. Of course, T am speaking of the condition of matters up to the time I left the hove; it may lie different now! ] do not know wdlii) filled them originally, but 1 think that before T resigned the company had to give the Gas Company one barrel, free, to make up for shortages. Query, were there not other instances of this kind'! As to the water put into Xo. 1 earth tank —I do not refer to that put in to test the tank, but subsequently—it i« there still: but if I say any more on the point it may be the means of oe priving someone of his' work or billet, which I would not like, so will refrain. Regarding crude oil and steamed oil and silt, this class of oil was measured against me on September 13, therefore it was fair enough to measure it in the same way on October 12. lh any case, there was no time to steam and empty the tanks on the night of October 11, and as Mr. Sladden had to get away by S a.m. it was decided to take it as' it stood. I do not see what I have to do with Hie date of Mr. Sladden's leaving Xo. i bore. Strictly speaking, I had no right fiiere until August 7, hut on the sth Hie driller was only taking out the pump-casing and rods; nothing to do with me, and very different to July 2'). Then comes the statement related and dwelt upon with such manifest gusto that it reveals, what I already know, that they did not \vi-:h me to succeed. I refer to that which again draws pointed attention to the fact that the , trial was not a success. Well, I could , not produce oil where it. did ■not exist, but I proved in twelve days' pumping , what the well was capable of yielding, a point not previously reached by their experts in all the lengthy time employed in experimenting with it. Why were they unable to demonstrate this long ago, and so save the company a large ■ sum of money? Under my supervision, ■ on at least four separate occasions I had ■ the well clear of oil, water, silt, or • sand, and for a great part of the les's than twelve days left me through bad i plant I could draw the whole contents ■ in under one hour, when I would have to wait at least four hours until more came in.

Even under these circumstances I V tained 144 barrels, or 12 per 24-hnnr dav. and for the last three days til" we'll was going a little better. 1 repe.t that, never before was this quantity obtained, and I challenge the directors to produce the log-books and prove it. Of (be last clause of their letter 1 will leave the shareholders to judge, but will merely say that what was really responsible for the drop in the value »V the shares was the fire at No. 3 (being Ihe second within such a shorl period), added to the enquiry, held in camera, only the bare result'of which was communicated to the shareholders. Om tiling is now known, and that is tin' actual en.p-jbilH.ics of Xo. i well; while, nothing is known of the others'. There was quite a nice little exhibition at Xo. :) yesterday afternoon, but II did not know whether to laugh or weep. To sum up. take the live bores as at .lime. HlO7. review the amount, of cash spent on them since, and look at them to-day. Ily (heir works ye shall judge them. In conclusion, T may add that I was in formed that, a "iilow-out" could be induced at Xo. 2 well, or any well containing much gas, to order. You could lix your own time, and when the crowd was largest or the moment, most opportune. But the* are trade secrets, and I should not refer to them.