"FINEST OIL IN THE WORLD'"

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 137, 1 December 1911, Page 4

"FINEST OIL IN THE WORLD'"

TARANAKI PETROLEUM. ITS COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT. 'ARRIVAL OF MESSRS. J. BROWN AND C. CARTER, "The finest oil iti the world!" The phrase cam be repeated, surely. It. fell ilast night from the lips of Mr. J. Brown, chairman of directors of the British Em' pire Oilfields, a subsidiary company of the Oil Trust, when interviewed -by a Daily News reporter on the express- train ■ last night. Mir. Brown was, as is well known, coming to New Plymouth with Mr. C. Garter, chairman of the directors of the Taranaki Petroleum Co., whose interests have been acquired by Mr. Brown's company. Our reporter boairded the train at Stratford, and found' Mr. Carter in good health and splendid spirits. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were introduced, and conversation was of a er&i character. To a direct question :as to whether ho had anything to communicate to the press, Mr. Brown answered that he felt hei could say nothing till he had seen the field. But in", the course of ' subsequent conversation the talk got round to oil, and it was then that he made use of the gratifying statement which heads this article.' . A PRACTICAL MAN.

Mr. Brown is- a geologist, and is thoroughly acquainted with all the great' oilfields of the world. The Oil Trust, Ltd., has interests in India, Trinidad, British Guiana, Newfoundland, Labrador, Canada, Russia, the United States (Ohio, Wyoming, Illinois), Texas, Cuba, Egypt, Galicia, and mast- of the great oilfields of the world. They have now 190 new wells going down in the various countries. Mr. Brown travels from field to field a great deal an the companies' interests.

Speaking of the purchase of the Taranaki Petroleum Company's interests, Mr. Brown said that one of the conditions stipulated by Mr. Garter was that a certain number of shares were to be offeredin New Zealand, and the Tnranalki 00. has the right to take up £OO,OOO shares of the £300,000 worth . NO PUMPING—A RECORD.

Speaking of the oil wells at Moturoa, hj« said that if there had been—and it is known locally that there has—been a flow at the wells for over two years, that was prima facie evidence of sufficient pressure .below. Wherever there was gas there was oil. Of course, the rate of production here was not as rapid as in some other parts—he mentioned a well yielding 120 tons (or about 840 of our 42-gallon barrels) a day—he knew of no other wells that could run for two years without pumping, as the Taranaki w«Us had done. THE GEOLOGY OF TARANAKI.

Mr. Brown mentioned also that lie had studied the New Zealand Government geologist's reports on this field, and was highly pleased with them. "How does the depths of our welle strike you, somewhere about 3000 feet?" "I would 1 like to put down a well to a depth of 5000 feet," he said, basing his requirements on his opinion gathered from the geologist's reports. Bte remarked that on the Caucasus field the wells were about 3000 feet deep, Galicia 3400 feet, Ohio 3200 feet, California 4000 fe«t. A REMARKABLE OIL.

As to the quality of the oil, Mr. Brown saidi it was the richest iu the world. It contained, he said, 17% per cent, of paraffin wax, aiul the richest he had wer come across before had in at only 9y 2 to 10 per cent. The presence of this paraffin base made the oil three—.perhaps four—times as valuable. ns it would be without it, for the money lay not in the burning oil, but in the .by-products.

BETTER THAN WE THOUGHT. "I suppose," remarked the interviewer, "that you had analyses made of the oil at Home?" "Yes." "Did they agree with the analyses made in New Zealand?" "No," he answered, and, after a pause, "they were better. It's the richest oil in the world. I'd like to get it in some of our oil wells in Russia." There, he said, they recently took over a concern which had failed to get oil. There were thirteen weflls, but there wias too much gas, which caused explosions, and these destroyed the easing. Under the new management, however, this had been rectified, and the first producing well was yielding 120 tons a day. There was only about a half per cent of paraffin in that •il. OIL FUEL FOR THE NAVY, j,. "® u *' w h»t lam keen on,' he said, 'is to get oil in the colonies, because we must have it for the navy. The Admiralty has committed itself to oil fuel, and is equipping vessels with furnaces to take oil. What would we do if war broke out, and we had no oil for the navy? We'd ,be in a fix. The only British possession where oil Js produced in quantity now is in Burmah, although innidad is being opened up. It is important that we should develop any oil measures in the Dominions so as to have oal supplies at the various ports of call." A REFINERY. Mr. Brown did' not wish to discuss th« Turanaki field further, tout he mentioned that a refinery would be erected, probably costing up to £200.000, the cost depending, of course, on the refinery requirements.

CHAT WITH MR. CARTER. kiln, ha \ retuTne d in excellent health, and has had good health ever since he arrived in England. He informed, the reporter that he had had a very busy time indeed all the time he w England. Asked as to oil matters, it was evident that he was well pleased with the .result of his trio and his negotiations in London, but naturally preferred' not to give any public stated meat until he had reported to his directors and shareholders. He has power of attorney for the new company to te Zeal<lUd (Taranaki) OU Mr. Carter mentioned that Mr. Brown js a prominent figure fc the oil wo,Td being director 0 f nine companies and chanrman of six. His work fori' W tune past lias made too great a Tax ™ •i-t 1 insisted on an entire and eluMige of scene. So as there ana ur. Ilcmy spoke very hi«M v n f f i,:' country—Mr. Cfcrtor backing m 4 of c C!T L '7 a Brmvn h(,s "o C Mrs. Brown were both splendid travel