TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 180, 29 January 1912, Page 4

TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

. ENGLISH EXPERTS ON FACTS AND-, PROSPECTS. "When Mr. Henry came to London," said Mr. 11. J. Brown .to a Dominion re- • presentative, "his report was sufficiently | satisfactory to induce our group to take the matter up. Mr. Henry confirmed everything that Mr. George Adams had said—and more. It is interesting, I think, to notice that since then Dr. J. D. Bell has reported on the property, in association with Mr. Henry, and has fully borne out Mr. Henry's earlier report. It is on the reports of these two gentlement that the present connection is being worked. I thought it was quite good 1 enough to make my trip out here. I ; spent five weeks on the field, studying it i from every quarter, and lam thoroughly ! convinced that everything said by Mr., s Henry and Dr., Bell was absolutely cor ; ■ rect, and that Taranaki possesses a very i large oilfield at present undeveloped." And the qtoality of the oil? ■ "The quality of the oil," said Mr. . Brown, "is the finest in the world. There • is nothing to touch it anywhere. The i percentage in paraffin-wax is larger than; that in any other field on earth." "The statement," said Mr. Brown, "can 1 be made on,the authority of the most eminent refining company of Scotland that this field is, in the matter of the value of the products, the finest in the world. The percentage of paraffin wax is 17.7, which is ten per cent, larger than, the yield of any other oil. Paraffin wax, I may tell you, sells at tjie very high figure of £3O to £4O per tori. I want tOf say that we have been immensely pleased with the indomitable pluck the Taranaki people have shown, in sticking ' to this thing from the start. Nothing has shaken their faith. Mr. Carter, the ckairman of the local company, who has ju*t returned from London, went there on our invitation* to complete negotiations. Negotiations were duly completed. Under the arrangement, the London group has to bring out a company with a nominal capital of £400,000, of which. £275,000 is for working capital and the general expenses of the company. Fifty thousand shares are held in reserve for future issue. The directors ihelude: The Earl of Ranfurly, Mr. Joseph Brailsford (chairman of the Ebbwvale Steel, Iron and Coal Company, Limited), Sir John Harrington (chairman' of the Oil ' Trust, Ltd.). Mr. A. L. Horner (director of the South African Territories, Ltd.) and Major D. 11. Alexander.."' In the course of further conversation,, it was gathered that the Taranaki shareholders of the present company, under the agreement entered into by Mr. Carter with thp London group, have the right to participate in the, underwriting of shares in the new company. The Taranaki men have shown their confidence in the undertaking by fully availing them- • '• selves of this opportunity. OPERATIONS IN TRINIDAD: Trinidad has .suddenly sprung int« fame as"; one of the world's greatest oilfields. This fact; according to the Petroleum World of November, is now placed beyond, ft and the culminating evidence to prove it is only one of a long seriel of events. On November 8 a ' gualfer was brought in on the property of the Trinidad Oilfields, Ltd., whicji produced 25,000 barrels, or o.ver 3500 tons, in over three and a-lialf hours before sanding up under a strong pressure. Few wells have exceeded this rate of outflow, though some gushers playing for a longer period have as much as ' 100,000 barrels in a singfe day. One gusher ddes not make nn oilfield, but the results of previous diillii&g ( in the same neighborhood confirm the - Petroleum World in the conclusion th*t' Trinidad bears the aspect of a mature and wellequipped oilfield, The right drilling line has been found, the rigs are at regular work, the storage has hitherto been inadequate, the transport system is so simple as to be elementary, and there is amarket for the oil. , Reviewing the past year, the Petroleum World, in its December number, regards 1911 as the most important year ever known in the history of the petroleum industry. Drilling and exploration have y both expanded on an unprecedented scale, and transport facilities have been greatly extended.; The marketing of two or three hundred products and by-products has been carried to a stage of perfection never known'before—this being one result of competition between the most powerful groups. Looking to the new i year, one can see many evidences of coming expansion for the industry and none that indicate retrogression or contraction. The increasing number of tank steamers and the large amount of tonnage of this description now being built, give promise o? still greater activity in transport. At present no oilfield in the , wide world, the exception of Cali- >, fonjisL and Mexico, is producing more oil • than it can dispose of. Prices sliojv an . advance in spite of'competition, and new . prospecting fields are legion. The British Admiralty will make large and increasing' ' demands, on oil fuel supplies in the oom-: ing year, and enquiries ara being made in London by responsible and up-to-date firms who can look ahead, as jto the cost and practicability of, organising an oif fuel supply for industrial use.The Poverty Bay fllrald, inter alia, remarks that a visit to the power house 1 of the Gisborne municipal electrical sup- • Pjy when the Diesel engines are in operation should open anyone's eyes as to the possibility of petrbleum engines 6up- * planting steam. The marvellous simplicity and cheapness of the system is its great recommendation, and We can quite understand the vogue that .this class of engine is obtaining in Europe. Other factors of progression in the petroleum industry are the development of the marine oil engines and the increasing number of vessels to be so equipped, the progress of solid oil fuel, and the vastly increasing consumption of petrol for motor-driven vehicles.