PETROLEUM NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 205, 27 February 1912, Page 4

PETROLEUM NEWS.

ACTIVITY AT No. 5 AGAIN. ENORMOUS GAS PRESSURE AND ' FLOW. No. 5 afforded a great spectacle last evening. Oil and mud were being ejected to the height of the top of the derrick with a force that was almost unprecedented in the history of local oil boring. The bore having been cleaned and the casing replaced, drilling was started in the morning, and when twenty-eight feet had been bored, the material encountered being oil bearing throughout, the gas came away, being followed ly an eruption—not a flow—of oil and mud. The pressure was enormous (over 10001b to the'inch, the manager told our representative), and it was'quite out of the question to measure the oil output. Before the eruption the well was full of pure oil. This no doubt came from the veins that supplied the 36 barrels a day flow. With the tapping of the new veins lower down it is expected the flow will be greater than ever. The well is now down 2323 feet, and as soon as the pressure relaxes, which may happen at any moment, the manager hopes to divert the oil flow to the underground tanks. The whole place and surroundings are covered with oil and mud, but the manager hopes to save a certain proportion of the oil.