OIL IN WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19879, 7 May 1936, Page 3

OIL IN WAIKATO.

EXISTENOE OF DEPOSITS. DEVELOPMENTAL POSSIBILITIES. HAMILTON DIVINER‘S VIEWS. The opinion that all deposits exist in the Waikato district, and have delflnite developmental possibilities, was , expressed to-dayfby a Hamilton diviner in conversation with a Waikato Times representative. The speaker recently completed a tour of the Waikato and stated that he has found petroleum in the district. Explaining the methods 'adopted in locating oil deposits, he lsnid oil divining was carried out in the same way as water divining, except that in tracing oii no staff was necessary. Oil is found mostly in domes which are caused by the action of oil being arrested in its flow through the strata. of rock, and causing increasing pres—t sure upon the rock strata above, added ‘ the speaker. This pressure is con—l vstant, not intermittent, and therefore] Ia dome is caused or formed. Oil is. tusuaiiy preceded by ‘gasses in horing.‘ It is necessary that a distinction should ‘be made Ibetween the marsh gases of low-lying land and oil gas. Marsh] Igases are emitted from the Surface of, the earth owing to the rotting or sub-l merged vegetation and these gases are inflammable, like the oil gas; but with the marsh gas much water is discov—cred.

Depot!" In Whikato. 4 In the Tokomaru Bay district a whole sheep station is supplied by local oil gas for heating. cooking, and running the farm. oil engines being used for generating electricity for lighting. shearing and oiher purposes. The New Zealand Oilflelds Limited, put. down testing horcs for oil; but the time is too recent to obtain any. definite data as to the value of an oil field. “The presence of all fields in New Zealand. capable of producing oil and petrol in abundance. should be ex~ ploited upon our leaders, especially inl \‘lß‘V of the fact iiat a state of naivl ions] emergency may arise owing in! developments of affairs in Europe and elsewhere.“ commented the speaker. He added that. shale deposits are to he found at Tauwhare and from these bituminous deposits, desiructive distillation, napiha and tar can he ex~ tracted. Oil is known to be in evi—’ dance at the Narrows and on the Kai~ mei hills. ‘

The speaker expreSSed the vlew that oil, naptha. tar. and associated pro—-du-Cts mls‘ht he produced In the \Vai—knto at costs that are not. prohibitive. Test. bores could be put down in these areas and tests could be made of the quality of the material produced.