THE KOTUKU OILFIELDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 49, 19 August 1911, Page 7

THE KOTUKU OILFIELDS.

EXTENSION OF AREAS. London, June 30. The Kotuku Oilfields Syndicate, Ltd., has decided to increase the capital from £40,000 to £IOO,OOO. The Anglo-Saxon Company will take up at once 30,000 shares at par, on which 10s a share will be paid up, with the option,until December 31, 1912, of taking up a further 25,000 shares at par. This will put the syndicate in possession of £15,000 cash immediately, and it will have at call a further £28,250. The Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company will undertake the entire management of the business of the syndicate, and Mr. D. Ziman will relinquish his position of managing director. : ■ Mr. Ziman, however, receives 5000 shares fully paid by. way of remuneration for services rendered in procuring the grant to the syndicate of additional concessions at Kotuku and in the North Island of about 30,000 acres in all.

Mr. G. A. Jones presided, and in explaining the position, said the syndicate was formed last year to take over certain areas in Kotuku, near Greymouth, in the South Island of New Zealand. Mr. M. S. Abrahams, engineer to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, undertook the secretaryship, and under his advice Dr. Wanner, an eminent geologist and oil expert, was entrusted by the directors with the examination of the property. He was also instructed to examine and report on any other district in New Zealand where oil indications of a favorable character existed. Dr. Wanner's report on Kotuku was distinctly favorable, and led to the company acquiring rights over a large tract of land adjoining. He also reported on certain areas in the North Island, which offer prospects equal to those at Kotuku, if hot better. Options over these areas have been secured for the syndicate by Mr. Ziman, the present managing director in New Zealand, who was also instrumental in obtaining the original and subsequent concessions at Kotuku. Mr. Jones pointed out that the policy of extension was practically forced upon them by the necessity of consolidating their position. 'Expenditure had been judiciously laid out, and good progress had been made. In pursuance of Dr. Wanner's recommendations, a set of drilling machinery, capable of putting down a well to a depth of between 3000 ft and 4000 ft, was despatched to New Zealand in March last, and two Galieian drill men, specially selected for their great experience in deep well drilling, were sent out with it. When the drill had started, work would be continued till the well was completed. If these proposals were passed, two further drilling outfits would be sent at the earliest possible date to start sinking on sites selected by Dr. Wanner at Kotuku and in the other district referred to. In the event of the operations proving as successful as was confidently expected, £IOO,OOO would not be suflicient to develop the areas asqnired, to say nothing of the erection of refineries, storage tanks, pipe linos, etc. Bearing this in view, a clause had been inserted in the articles to provide that in any future increase of capital, shareholders _ would have the right to participate pro rata to their registered holding, The Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, with whom the provisional agreement for taking up tho proposed additional capital had been entered into, was a company closely allied to the Shell Transport and Trading Company, and the syndicate would not only have the benefit of the great experience of the technical and commercial staff of that company, but when the producing stage had been reached they would also have the advantage of utilising their transport and storage facilities and marketing organisation. By tho proposed arrangement they not only secured the necessary capital for proving their areas and producing oil. hut as soon as oil was found in commercial quantities they would immediately obtain an assured outlet for their products.