MANGAONE OILFIELDS, LTD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10656, 11 June 1912, Page 5

MANGAONE OILFIELDS, LTD.

DESCRIPTION OF BORING

PLANT.

■ The (boring pkrat which, is to be 'utilised .by the -Mangaoiie OMelds, Ltd., is expected to arrive in, Efcetaimna in. the course of a day or two, .'and its manipulation will- be. watched with. the. urtmosfc'nrtejrest. ..The plant, 'which is kmow-n a&, a combination rot<ary da-ill, is absolutely of the Oatest ttype, and is the invention, of .MessrsHerman bind Weger, who' have contracted to put down, two bores. The patent rights of the.invention have recently been secured'by. a, company of New Zealand 'fina'nciem, and the-pliant is confidently expected to revolutionise "oil boring in New Zealand. As this is 'the first bore of its (kind, attempted in ■tihe 'Southern' Hemisphere, experts, from, all over 'Australasia are expected to visit the:fields and watch operations of ,the"plant., : The contract "Uimie. for .sinking the^-well-"is-<-.-, four ■months,- but; the' contractorsi'■; anticipatel, unless uhforseen difficulties-' iai-Sse,.. to complete the. work in.'.', half tho time. In other systems of boring; ♦the care is raised inside the .casing,, 'therefore necessitating a 'long 'time* to clear, ibiut with this plant it is: 'ejected tfrom the outside with expedition, and only one string of casing is. •necessary; The. plant, which is com.'pcJsed' wholly *f steel, to obviate dan'ger of destruction by.fire, is drivem by a 40 h.p. iboiler, arid when once 6et •in .motion, 'never ceases until the well •is completed., "As the mame of the >pjant implies;, the system of boring is a rotary one, the cutter .being fixed at ■the bottom of the pipe column, and rotated at .enormous, speed. The gentlemen operating the plant, Metesrs Hermanjaind .Weger, have had experiemje on tOie largest known oilfiekfe i'm .'the world',' 'and ; sWould stand/them' in good .stead, ini their ifia-sifc New Zealand venture. If the well can. be bored in the time contracted it naturally means.that very 'little time will elapse ibefore *the known" oil areas of New Zealand will he 'thoroughly tested'. '

The. contractors are 'now in. the district ctoduutmg a geological survey c*f ttJie area for the .purpose ctf fixing ■upon sites for present and future boring. They 'are conducting the same operations as they would if oil was actualliy in sight.