THE OIL WELLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 182, 19 December 1912, Page 5

THE OIL WELLS.

THE NEW ROTARY PLANT. OFF TO THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH. There was quite an array of local notabilia at Moturoa yesterday, when a Mirprise party of directors of the laranaki Oil Wells. Limited, and one or two others, descended like so many Assyrians wolves on the fold of the two American nexperte and their subordinates who have been engaged in erecting the new rolarv plant at Moturoa. They found these gentlemen not exactly having on their wedding garments, but clad in distinctly appropriate costumes for the work in which they were engaged and in a most intensely practical mood. There wag no suggestion of speech-mak-ing or "frills" when the party arrived, the simply contenting themselves with ''getting busy." They clambered around like so many busy spiders in the web of the slim and airy derrick with a nonchalance that was appalling to the ordinary layman, hung bv their eyebrows on inaccessible platfonps, monkeyed with mysterious wheels and valves and chains and pistons, 'and in a verv short space of time the monster which they had' tamed was let loose and started on its mysterious trip into the bowels of the earth. Kipling's ship that "found itself" at 'ast took an unconceivable time in the process, but the new rotarv drill, the first of its kind south of 111• Line, and the very last thing in modern oil-boring -Machinery, made : no bones about its mission. It started on its way to the other side of the earth with a most convincing confidence and with no suggestion that it was biting off more than it could chew. In a few minutes the massive driller was out of sight and out of hearing, but sending aloft its constant message of progress in a steady flow of clay and water. There was no hitch and no delay, and the big mechanical leviathan, at the will of its masters, answered the helm, came when called upon, fed out of the hand, and did every thing Uiat a self-respecting machine is supposed ro do. but does not always do. Unanticipated, as it was, the display was a triumph of mechanical engineering, api impressive in its suggestion of immense strength as it was'in its wonderful control.

REVOLUTIONISING OIL BORING. When Mr. Floury was in these parts lig stnlod tlwt the system of oil boring lwd boon revolutionised during the past few years. .One can appreciate this statement after seeing the old cable or percussion method, by which all the local .•ores were drills:!, and comparing it with the rotary svstrn. There is as much difference between the two as there is between a bullock dray and a motor car, a Maori canoe and a motor launch, the old hand printing pre.?s and the rotary printing press. A driller with the old type of rig reckons he is doing well when he averages a foot an hour. Yesterday afternoon the rotary plant pierced the giound as if it " f vore chevse, reaching a depth ■of 30 feet in the first hour. Instead of years, as it has heretofore taken to put down the bores at present flowing at Moturoa, it will be but a question _of months. As a matter of fact, a similar plant, only of an earlier pattern, put down a well of 20-inch, to a depth of 2157 feet, in 13 days, .worknig the full 24 hours, and the formation, according to the log, was not by any means easy. This was in Vinton, U.S.A., in January of last year. I It is not only in regard to the saving 1 of time, however, that the rotary seems to possess distinct advantages over the old method. In the matter of casing, it effects a great economy. In drilling & well by this system :t - s unnecessary' to set casing until the bore has been fin- I ished, and then only one string of cas- i in« is set in a general way when"the well i? brought in. i ; Alongside the revolving table and ear,, ing, are pumps which drive water through a flexible pipe into the revolving easing. The water pressure drives the debris up the sides of the hole to the top, wnere it is led outside, the water being conveyed in a race to a tank, the sediment -settling on the bottom and the water being sucked up by the pump, and used over and over again. Under the old system it is necessary to periodically lower the sand pump to bring up the debris then the constant thick column of mud in circiktion around the descending casing holds up the walls of the bore hole while the well is being drilled, thus doing away with the necessity for casing and under-rimming. The drill—which of course, is bigger than the easing, to admit of the escape of the water from the bottom—makes a perfectly round hole, and does not disturb the formation of the well, while the cori-i-itant pressure of the column of mud holds np the walls until the well is finished, when the mud is pumped out and the well brought in. But what of the rotary when it comes to boring through difficult formation? This question is often raised in regard to the rotary. It is claimed that with a new form >f -utter the rotary will pierce the hardest formation. It is called the Sharp-ITnghes rotary bit and has been used in different parts of America with complete success. It is stated that the '■going" at Moturoa is not as difficult as it is in some of the States where the rotary is in use; otherwise, experts say, the results attained locally with the obsolete rigs in use could never have been achieved

The bore is 20 inches in diameter, easily the biggest on the field. No. 2 is only 8 inches, Xo. 3 is S inches, and No. 5 10 inches. The two bores at Bell Block now being put down are also 10 inches. Until the arrival of some took called "(.levators," used to hold the piping in position whilst another section is fitted, it is not expected that yesterday's rapid progress will be quite maintained. The tools should be here shortly, and then everything will be straight sailing. The new method certainly impresses one favourably. The principle seems sound, and the mechanism thoroughly efficient. The drillers know their work and are quite at home with the plant, and there is very little douht that a new era in boring for oil has been opened for Taranaki. The rotary system is past its experimental stage. Very satisfactory results from it are.being obtained in America, and there is no reason why the same success should not be met with here. The country at Moturoa is not considered very difficult by borers, the plant is the best that can be purchased, and the men in charge expert at their work. The new method of boring, therefore, starts under the m«jgt favourable auspices, and since the field has been proved, it also starts with the brightest prospects.

TJIE REFINERY. AN ANIMATED SCENE. An-animated scene is presented at the refinery location. Bullock drays and horse lorries are busy transferring the plant from the railway siding, just opposite, to tin 1 site. Some of the parts are not easy to handle. They are big and awkward and heavy, some of them, like the boilers and still bottoms and stampers, weighing several tons. On the site itself, the rivetters -are making the welkin ring, and gradually the stills and the other portions of the plant are, taking shape. Good progress, too, is being made with the brick work. The brick

work in connection with the coke and ~ boiler stills an? well on the way. .Th< construction stands by itself, just below the two big oil holders that haVt a capacity of 20,000 gallons apiece. la all there are six separate construction!, which cover a good deal of ground. With the addition of a tinning plant mors buildings will be required. One can now torm an idea of th<J extensivenesß of the works and 1 of the potentialities of the industry. Most of the plant is now on the ground, but another shipment of about 300 tons lias still to come to hand. The plant altogether runs into about 700 tons. The whole of the work is going along smoothly and expeditiously, and at the present Tate of progress, it ie expected the plant will be in working order by April.