MORE OIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 214, 8 March 1912, Page 4

MORE OIL.

The demand for petroleum and its products is increasing with enormous rapidity and will be given an added impetus by the coal strike in Britain (says the Lyttelton Times). But the field of supply seems to grow almost as quickly as the world's consumption does. ! The discovery of petroleum in New Guinea is announced in a cablegram' from Melbourne, and no doubt the Federal Government will have the report investigated thoroughly. Several travellers have noticed surface indications of the presence of oil in the territory, and the authorities are not likely to forget that the best security for the speedy settlement of a new country is the exploitation of mineral wealth in some form. Another new field lies in Argentina, which has the misfortune to be practically without native coal. The Government of the republic has taken in hand the development of an oil-bearing area oti the Atlantic coast of Patagonia, some seven hundred miles south of Buenos Ayres, and has sunk already a number of profitable wells. The individual output of the bores, it is interesting to notice, is no greater than that of Taramost recently completed well, but capital has been abundant, and work has proceeded rapidly. An additional sum of £176,000 is to be expended on borings and plant, and then Argentina will be able to effect some very substantia/ economies in her coal bill, which amounts at present to more than £6,000,000 a year. She may even compete with Trinidad, Mexico, Texas and perhaps New Zealand for a share in the oil trade that will come into being at Panama when the canal is opened.