OIL IN TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 277, 31 December 1909, Page 5

OIL IN TARANAKI.

"MboVERNMEXT GEOLOGIST g| HOPEFUL. kne' chances for oil in Taranaki are Keved by Dr. Bell, Government GeoloH, to be as' good as in any imperfectly He field. In a preliminary report upon ■Toilfield, Dr. Bell states that success Hm hardly be said to have been atHSd. So many attempts had been Hji to secure a payable well at Motu■■hat one would naturally feel disHHted for the future were it notthaji a for the/-faihires. Away from could scarcely be said Hhave yet been prosecuted sufficientlyto properly test the field. AVhere natural ga» occurs in quantity there was) strong pic;>bility that it had ascended vertically from the porous strata below, •vhich very likely—but not certainly contained petroleum. Overlying the i tensive Jfokau coalbeds, the southwesterly extension of which, by coming in contact with volcanic heat, or mere rease of heat towards the earth's in- * for, had been the source of petroleum, were thick, beds of porous green sandstone. It was thought that until these were cut by drilling no very extensive pool of oil would be struck, unless, perchance, a large assure rising from great depths was reached above. Consequently it followed that drilling at Moturoa had not gone sufficiently deep, and Dr. | Bell suggests that one hole be chosen, preferably No. 3, as being the more westerly and nearest the source of oil, and * pushed down until the porous strata seen on the Mokau is encountered. Dr. Bell hopes that after the Observations of the survey are complete, the industry will be pushed as vigorously as surface indications seem to warrant.