A ROMANCE OF OIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 308, 23 May 1911, Page 3

A ROMANCE OF OIL.

THE PETROLEUM WELLS OF TARANAKI. HOW THE STATE BONUS WAS WON. THE TURNING OF THE LANE. (Sydney Daily Telegraph.) At last definite success appears to be within sight of those engaged in the New Zealand petroleum industry. For years little bands of enthusiasts have been at work near New Plymouth exploring for the oil known to be concealed there. !t is n long story, mainly of vicissitude and disappointment, of high hopes doomed again and again to failure.' And now comes a cable message that the Taranaki Petroleum Company, which controls four or live bores near the New Plymouth breakwater at Moturoa, a couple of miles from the pretty town, has succeeded in producing a quarter of a million gallons of crude petroleum, and will thus obtain the Government tonus of £2500. The romance of the industry runs over a wide stretch of years. Boring operations have been going on in Taranaki

more or less intermittently since 1865. The presence of petroleum was detected as long ago as 1839 by Dr. Dieffenbach, who discovered seepages near the present site of the breakwater. The locality is a famous, or perhaps we should say an infamous, one in the history of the interi tribal warfare of the Maoris. A number , of wells were drilled in 1805, and during that year and the three years following small quantities of petroleum were obtained, but the results were considered so discouraging that hope of doing anything of commercial value was abandoned for 20 years. Then the subject was taken up again in earnest, and chiefly i through the instrumentality of Sir Julius Vogel, the well-known New Zealand statesman, and the Hon. Oliver Samuel, a company was organised in London, which continued operations for two years. Only a small amount of oil was obtained, however, and the company ceased work. From that time onward a vast amount of capital has been sunk in unsuccessful attempts to secure oil in payable quantities. The great trouble has been the presence of water. When Mr. E. M. Smith, by one of the surprises of .politics always possible under a democratic franchise, got into Parliament, it was his practice to take to Wellington samples of petroleum, ironsand and other products of the district, and exhibit these during his speeches in financial debates; and on every other possible occasion to convince admiring members of the boundless resources of the "Harden ofi New Zealand," as he proudly called his electorate But. while everyone-knew petroleum was there, the f|iH'stion>'was as to how it should be put upon the market in such manner as to as in regard to ironsand, the trouble has been not that good steel could /not be made from the huge deposits strewn along the benches, but that it could not be produced at a sufficiently low cost. THE STORY OF THE 'BIRTHDAY BORE The boring for petroleum was carried on in a very primitive way at* first, when wells were drilled to a depth of 050 ft. or so. An Adelaide syndicate became inter-c-,ted and sent Mr. George Fair to New Plymouth in 186* to test the iield. This was how the Birthday I'.or.e. as■ ,it was called, was put down.' dt did not promise too well in the beginning, and the Adelaide company gave up the struggle. Mr. Fair, however, decided to go on, shrewdly suspecting that .petroleum was to be found in payable quantities lower down. He interested a number of local residents, who formed'.the Mqtiiroa Petroleum Company, arid the Birthday Bore was continued to a depth lower than any yet tcsted—22/tOft: . Here oil was discovered in' payable quantity, and without water. ' , "

When the little tip was .turned on, I petroleum spurted out and filled a kerosene tin in a few second's: ''The news caused tremendous-oxeftcment in New .Plymouth. Shares : wortlv' £s' jumped at ■ .once to £7 10s,'and then' to double that /figure, and when : it' vatA 'reported not |,)oiig afterwards thai 1 from Saturday r .nii.'ht till Tuesday IftKVjpvllons "had flowed, the stock we'ilt irfij'tp' £'4o, then to ,£SO, then to £sfi. ''(Several •other companies were formodV 1 arid' the 1 Mdturoa Petroleum Company JraS'' re-firganised, •■'jind became the Taranaki Petroleum with a c&pitsl'af. €120.000. ■ . Thip company has [tut tlowiiitohree l other bores, and continued u'fourth on flic site 'hi one sunk by a; former/ syndicate. The iOne called the Birthday< iwhieh g*'ve such ifine results when ithff-petrottMiir pool was first reached, did tuotmialiitnilK'this yield, and part of Iheihorcbnd .t'o'lie."re-cased. The second bore aK:i«ine(Hal'i#iactotv ro- . )4nlla at 3030 ft. A']fl«W'ofi T *>ii w'as maintained from .lannaiiy liV;.l*ih.e':!!ifct year ..wilhout pumping. Iluf. t!>y. lp pW;?'en>e of a ..quantity of fine silt threatened To'reduce ..the value ofithe iiittplit.' until an' ingenious contrivance ovp.fi'iWw <fhe r dHu>ulty. and for six months afl>t'fkvtt ( ffl the well |owed 100 barrels every •week. From theythjtd >|)Ti'i)'Wt>ie.'h went down 3095 ft.. a hinge llnn""*f gas and oil proceeded, but hertv-iOJPiVnifW/crf's'ing had to be put in, a<nd thevworß-was ih'te'rr'upt- ' ed: Enough had: be«;i-uibnMoi' warrant .the belief, howeyecu thrtb .the->»il'!exists at; these considerabl?.-lileptbs -in large quantities. • lr. ><< iii

GEOLOfirCAf.■ I'NbrCATiqNS. ' In 1909 Dr. J. M.'.Bqw'.';,elector of the 'New Zealand Geological. visited 'the place, and nopoujy ''seepages, but foum[ was widespread—a eireuji|Ha,!« , e, | whicli l i.s generally regarded 'a* pr-uviiiy, the. presence of the oil in the below, fie. ■Miggcted tha.t- should "lie-deeper than when;,-:;/ ~aw. .them, as certain thick heds.o.f pi(i/,>u's, fli;feu ■sand--tone were believed to, shut till", the extensive popk lyhiw,.. This ad vice was followed,, gi>/vl,.n,'.snh,s. Dr. Bell reported in distim-Uyf.-iHliuus tw'mowing to the absence 'of .y, eumplete geological survey of tint diftrii-t • 'Mr. J. D. Henry,-,regarded: >.is'a high

authority on petroleum, who visited Tariinaki early this yea.r, seemed very impressed with what hi',.-aw there. He slated hefore leavin-r t h:il' ilUtrier that he never expected f.o tin.l such j.roiVuttiv<> fields as in New Zn,vii,i.l. The Taranaki fiel'd deserved whatevi" support he could jiivo it, and he was p-epaivd to back it njiainst the other field- in tin- Dominion. Further, he predicted that the oil industry would rival the wld-minim: industry in \'cw Zealand. Mr. Henry i- in put his ! views in I <> a hook. .1- well as in;,, a report, to he fnnii-nej [<■ the New Zealan'il (loverninenl, ' OH, ON RAILWAY' KVCINKS. Crude nil has 'u-en -cut In varimi? pai:ls of New Zej.l-iii-1, and n.sed -alisfactorily as fuel. '!' li» i Im crameiit einplnyed ,-oine of it in the railway wnrkshops at Pctone. and 100 |.r,-vU from the No. U bore were sent, to fie Railway Department to he tested i= f;;"' fur locomotives. Twcnlv-livc barrels wen -<-rit lo Kn'.'land for trial bv '.' en v . -.ei-eeiient' upon I lie' decision oi 1' .v!:''>al*y tn 11-e oi! fuel ill place of cii'. 'l'iie n-ults of the locomotive test, u'o'e -nidi that the department has. it is iii.i. air l ' 1 to take all,the oil avail-lid- ■>•; -Jd ■>■•'• gallon. It would l,e v.orlh v:i . lira !•. 'More fh.-in this to the coin;;:!in- if '•{ :o:i:d he refined, liut there is no refinery at present, and

it is estimated that it will take 18 months to get one At present the oil from the wells is accumulating, and the problem 'before the company is that of disposing of this surplus stock, or, on the other hand, providing additional storage tanks. Hence the offer of the Railway Department may be accepted. Mr. D. Berry, deputy-chairman of the company, rode on the cab of an engine when the trial with oil was being made, and says it proved an absolute success. There was neither smoke nor smell, and though they went through five tunnels, the ride was just as comfortable as if he were in a-lirst-elass carriage. The engine which supplies power to the bores is driven by oil fuel obtained a. few yards away. It is very interesting to watch the use. of the oil as fuel. The method is very simple, and the control of the furnace absolute. A REFINERY WANTED.

The rofined products obtained from the crude oil include benzine, kerosene, lubricating oil,' spindle oil, pitch and paraffin wax, for the manufacture of candles. The directors have proved this to demonstration by employing a miniature refinery at Moturoa, and hundreds of samples of these products have been distributed through New Zealand, Hut as suggested by the Minister for Mines, and recognised long ngo fey the directors and shareholders of the company, a refinery capable of treating the oil in sufficient quantity to supply the market is urgently needed. At the last meeting of shareholders, in December, it was stated that the cost of the one'proposed would be £IO,OOO, and that it would have, a capacity of 250 barrels daily. The attitude the directors have taken tip is that it would be commercially unsound to proceed with such a work until a certain number of additional shares have been applied for. "The oil is of exceptional quality—in fact, the most superior we have ever examined." Such wn9 the report, of a Paisley firm, A. F. Craig and Co., to whom specimens were sent four years ago for annlysis. The products wore also described as of excellent quality, color and smell, and chemical examination of these showed that the crude petroleum contained only a very small proportion of unsaturated hydrocarbons, and resembled in chnraeter and purity Pennsylvanian petroleum. THE •GOVERNMENT BONUS.

The bonus offered by the Government amounts in all to £IO,OOO, allotted as follows:-JFor the first 250.000 gallons of crude oil, £2300; for the second 250,000 gallons, another £2500; for 1,000,000 gallons, a further £2500; and on the erection of a refinery and the production of 500,000 gallons of refined mineral oils, the remaining £2500 to be paid. The first of these four sums the Taranaki Petroleum Company has just succeeded in winning.

Of the other companies at work on the field, Dr. Bell, at the time of his visit, found that the majority had obtained indications of oil. Curiously enough, the Bonithon bore, the deepest on the field, though sunk to a depth of 3004 ft, struck neither oil nor gas, but a strong flow of pure fresh water.

Naturally the success of these petroleum wells will 'be of enormous significance to Taranaki. For many years that province struggled on under adverse conditions until dairying, taken up by the settlers about a quarter of a century ago, altered the outlook as completely as it has altered it on the North Coast of New South Wales. The rich pasture lands about Tfawera, Stratford and Patea shared with other stretches of territory further down the coast in the bountiful yields of butter and cheese which brought big cheques to the farmers and gave seaports like New Plymouth a new air of prosperity. But the by-nrn-ducts of petroleum may prove instrumental in out-ilistaneing even this record.