Struck Oil!

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 192, 12 February 1912, Page 4

Struck Oil!

GOOD FLOW/AT No. 5. at rate of 252 Barrels a week. The great activity at No. 5 bore during last week, with the blows-out and great gas pressure, has culminated, as was anticipated by those in a position to speak, in a record flow of pure oil. During the past few days a good} deal of oil has come up between the, .casings, showing that an oil strata had been piereed or was not very far away. So lo}ig:as drilling operations continued, it was. hardly possible to test the Veil. ' The staff ceased operations on Saturday, and after a good deal of activity—sand, mud and oil coming up—the well cleared itself, and at d a.m. yesterday oiLljegan to flow. ~ , ! The chairman (Mr. d' "Carter) was early on the scene, and measured the output, finding it tq be 3fribarrels a day, or 252 barrels a week. It maintained the average all day. ~ The depth of the bore is about 2280 '' feet, and to strike such a flow at thislevel is without doubt the most encouraging feature of the operations at-Motu-roa. The oil that has flowed from No. 2 well for the past two years without cessation is from the 3000 ft. level, whilst that from No. 3 well comes from strata between the 3500 ft. and 4000 ft. levels. A seam of oil was struck at practically the same level in No. 2 well, but the yield was not very large, and boring was continued to a lower depth. The management propose to test this seam properly before going deeper. If t the supply holds out anything like it is ■ doing in the case of No. 2 well, it means a big thing for the industry. The company receive 4d a gallon from the British Oilfields, Ltd., for all the crude petroleum won,-besides the Government bonus of 3d a gallon. This works- ' out at £1 Is a barrel, or £204 12s a week, not to speak of the output of the" other two wells, which are producing about 110 barrels a week.' The work* ing expenses approximate £SO a week. These ( figures give one an idea of the ' potentialities of the industry. And 7 the field as yet has been barely scratched.

USE OF OIL ON ROTORUA LINE.' Auckland, February 8. The dust nuisance on the run by rail to Rotorua is at present just about as bad as it can be. The Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for Railways, was amongst the passengers arriving from the thermal district yesterday afternoon. Asked by a Star representative whether it' would not bfi possible to cope with the nuisance by some scientific means, the Minister replied that the only'way would'be to use oil in.laying the dust. If oil could be secured in quantities both, large and cheap, it would no doubt prove an effective remedy. He had approached the Taranaki Petroleum Syndicate, and made them an offer, but up to the present it -had been impossible to.come to term?, The Department was not going to pay 4d per gallon, and there should really be no need to do so." The Department did not require the more important .qualities, such as benzine, for the purpose they had in view. Until a process was introduced by which the Taranaki oil could be so treated, it would be impossible to cope with the dust nuisance on the Rotorua line. In America crude oil was sold for use in this way at 2 cents the gallon, and the price in New Zealand would have to be very much reduce'd before its use as a dust-laying agency came general.

Mr. H. J. Brown, of the British- Oilfields, Ltd., leaves to-day for Australia on business connected with the flotation of the new company.