STRIKING OIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 186, 12 January 1912, Page 7

STRIKING OIL.

AS OUTSIDERS VIEW IT. (Dunedin Star), ! There are indications that the Domin:on is about to play a part—and it is <o ii'ped an important part—in the supply of mineral oils to local consumers, if not to the world at large. Petroleum, it i will be. remembered, has been found m the Taranaki, Gisborne, Grey and South- . land districts; but the chief centre of activity has been at Moturoa, a locality 1 a short distance west of New Plymouth. One of the bores put down by the local company is credited with the production of 3780 gallons of crude oil per week, and the prospectors intend to test the deposits to a depth of 5000 ft. The latest development in connection with the industry comes in the form of an intimation that the British Empire Oilfields Company have stepped into the shoes of the Taranaki Petroleum Company, with a promise that geologists with special knowledge will arrive shortly to select 1 sites for more bores and wells; to probe into the bowels of the earth to a depth of 5000 ft, if necessary; and to establish refineries to deal with the crude oil in the most approved fashion, so that the by-products (and these are many and valuable) may be treated in the most [ profitable manner. The Taranaki Petroleum Company have stored 100,000 gal lons of crude oil in tanks, in the hope of being able to claim, before March 31. 1013, the Government bonus of 3d per gallon on the first 500,000 gallons of refined oil. AH interested in the development of the natural resources of the Dominion will hope that this reward fo their enterprise will go to swell shareholders' dividends. In the Australian States the bo- s system is at the present time stimulating iprospecting for the discovery of oil shale and mineral oils, the inducements taking the form of 2d per gallon for kerosene and 2s Gd per cwt. for refined paraffin wax. The 'bounty expires there. as here, in 1913. The possession of these shale deposits or subterranean reservoirs of crude oil is one thing, and the profitable working of them is another, as speculators have discovered to their cost all the world over. The existence of these shales was first made known in New South Wales by Count Strzelecki in 1545, and since then deposits have been found in many parts of the Commonwealth; but commercial success has, up to the present, only been attained in the mother State, where local kerosene js largely used, and will probably gain increased consumption now that American oil trusts have had their monopoly broken up. In Queensland, it may be remembered, a bore put down in search for artesian water at Boma .struck a flow of gas more than 3000 ft below the surface, estimated at over 1,000,000 cubic feet per 'day; but this accidentally, , caught fire, and further explorations were discontinued. As a matter of fact, although mineral oils and their by-products are in every house in some form or another, we know very little about the origin of the valuable commodity. Chemically, crude petroleum consists of impure hydrocarbons that have to be separated by distillation, by which process lubricants, 1 lamp oils, paraffin, naphtha, gasolene, ■■ motor spirit, and other by-products of i considerable value are obtained. ' We know that coal measures have been formed by chemically-altered vegetable matter that grew in'the carboniferous series of the palaeozoic system, and it is supposed that petroleum deposits were formed by the decomposition of fish, animal and vegetable remains that became covi'r-.d with -strata of sand and mud, resulting in the formation of solid asphaltic or bituminous substances, or liquid petroleum oils, or of gases. By a strange inversion of Nature's processes the geo-logically-preserved remains of prehistoric fishes are brought up from the lower regions to replace to a large' extent ,the oils extracted from the present denizens of the ocean. Although the American oil industry is little more than half "a century old—for it was in 1859 that Col. Drake, in Pennsylvania, drove the first pipe into the earth to tap the subterranean oil deposits—the existence" of these bituminous substances 'is "td ; be traced back to the earliest records. The that is associated with the' Noah's Ark legend was no doubt of this nature, and is still used in the construction of the native craft that float to-day on the waters of the Euphrates. The ancient petroleum wells of Baku, tin the borders of the Caspian Sea, centuries ago supplied fire-worshipping pilgrims from Persia and India with opportunities for devotion, and the same.wells at the present 'time, worked according to modern methods, are so productive that they, are dangerous competitors' to the Americans. In many of the most famous oil-prodac- . .iflg districts the product is, conveyed, 1 1 JP^ 8 $,P i P« s to the nearest,«,cj),- ■ 'port; and it is here that the Tarahaid petroleum,; should it turn out to be :is abundant as hoped, will have, a great advantages of being close to water carriage. This go far to counterbalance the cost of production arising from dearness of labor and increased cost of machinery. Competition in the oil market comes from all quarters of the globe —from Rjussia, India, Burma, China, •»- par and elsewhere, to say nothing of l.he North and South American oilfields, some of which have been pumped dry, bat fresh discoveries are keeping up the sunpiy- ,

The demand for the products of the petroleum industry, although at present' enormous, bids fair to attain still greater prdportions. The portability of the oil places it within the reach of those residents in localities'wh'e'fe' t <ioal ) gas and electricity cannot be supplied. The brilliancy of kerosene•' lamps when fitted •with incandescent mantles -brings them into by no- means unequal competition with other ilfuminantsj even in citius and suburbs. Oil cookers are used in thousands; and'k're appreciated because of their convenience and economy. "The ever-increasing use of motor vehicles is mainly due to the petrol oil that serve so admirably as a motive power. These seem likely to keep the field Until Edison or some other inventive genius l places a cheap and efficient storage battery on the market. It is evident that we are on the eve of seeing almost a revolution brought about in the engine doom's of ocean-going'steamers by the use of these mineral oils. Three of the Australian fleet—the Parramatta, Warrego and Yarra—have been constructed to burn crude petroleum, from which the volatile and dangerous products have been distilled, and other vessels of the fleet will be built in the same way. The enterprising Union Steamship Company's new 13,00f1-ton steamer, now being built for the South Pacific trade, is to be driven by liquid fuel, and owners of the big German steamers in the American trade arc abolishing coal bunkers and substituting oil tanks. For these reasons the signs of renewed enterprise in the direction of developing, the Taranaki oilfields is all the more welcome, Success in one place will stimulate other ventures in promising localities. It was at one time thought that petroleum was produced by Nature at the same time a.-, coal—it was, indeed, called "coal oil"—and this belief was strengthened by the fact that I.he earliest oil discoveries made in the United States were made in coal-producing areas. In fact, however, petroleum deposits in all parts of the world are found in different geological formations from coal seams. If it turns out that Xew Zealand has both coal and oil of superm-

quality, and in abundance, the date when the industrial world will be brought to a standstill for want of coal—as has been prophesied—can be put back for another century or two.