THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3229, 27 May 1911, Page 2

THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.

FUTURE OF NEW PLYMOUTH.

“A NAVAL OIL-FIELD.”

In regard to the reported sale of the Taranaki Petroleum C0..t0. an English company, the New Plymouth correspondent of the “Auckland Herald’’ remarks, inter alia : Future development depends very largely, of course, on the amount of capital that will be at the disposal of the new company. I am given to believe that the capital will be very Jar,ge, and will be quite sufficient for the rapid development of the industry. The management will not be hampered for want of funds, which' has been the painful experience of local companies in the past. The best expert knowledge available, and thoroughly modern plant —no. one pretends that* the prospecting plant here has been of most modern type — will be at the disposal of the company, and the success of the field! should be assured. It has been found that where petroleum developments take place they bring in their train population and industries, thereby enhancing the values of property. MARKET FOR OIL.

There is every probability of New Plymouth being made a naval oil-field base should the supplies of oil warrant it. The Admiralty has been watching events very closely as far as Taranaki is concerned. The Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) some few months ago put himself into communication with Downing Street in reference to obtaining supplies of oil fuel from Taranaki, and the naval authorities replied that in the event of a good supply being obtained the Admiralty would take a good deal of its supplies from here. One of the many questions to he brought up at the'imperial Conference will be the matter of oil fuel supplies and bases throughout the British possessions. and Sir Joseph Ward has taken great pains to be fully informed on tlw subject. It is estimated that if 800.(X>0 tens were predated annually a mar 1

be found for that ainri'’ 1 * being based on the sm railways " ill. take 2-'O. per annnm, ’Frisco mail boats -®o COO' tons l fliov pi'g boilin' built for oil fuel), the Australian now is nt present calling +Q nd oi \s tor 60.009 U'os. and 1 tl lri ■Pocific p.+, Auckland ?hnild drew 129 000 tons, ftp ha la non being opncmiprl bv tile Union and "O'or -•P'-npß'diN cMiipan!ps and bv Ponl inr7ns+rias including that smoltino 1 Tnnanaki ironsnnd. aii indiTa-tre* «‘hiab 1+ is will be in full swing before very long.

CHAIRMAN GOING TO ENGLAND. It is unlikely that there will be any fresh development as a result of the sale till late in the year, for the flotation of the company, procuring staffs and Plant, will take a considerable time. In the meantime Mr. C. Carter, chairman of directors, is, by Mr. Henry s request, to go Home to meet- the principals and settle finally. COLONIAL QIL FIELDS. The probability that the Taranaki oilfields will be '‘developed with Britisli capital is interesting, and will present,} cause public attention to be focussed on the matter. It may be mentioned that British capital was obtained for the development of the Gisborne oilfield, and also for the field' at Kotuku, on the West Coast. The development of the oilfields of New. Zealand is a matter oi importance not merely to the Dominion, but also to the British Admiralty, which is now building vessels to burn oil fuel. Mr J. Tarbotton Armstrong, in a paper on “Solidified Petroleum,” which he recently read in London, referring to colonial development, gave the following interesting information: “The development of the resources of our colonial oil is of the greatest possible importance. The present worm s production of oil is about 40,000,000 tons annually, and this is almost wholly absorbed for purposes other than tor fuel demands. The supply can be vastly increased if it were possible, as it is how by solidifying the oil, to get straight to work without waiting lor pipe lines or tanks (the single exception being on site for oilfields). England' alone raises annually 400,000,000 tons of coal; this figure is fairly eloquent of the market for oil in the world 1 when its use Us fuel becomes general. Some people are short-sighted enough to ask where the oil is to come from. In Egypt there are, probably, 40,000 acres; in New (Zealand there at least 150,000 acres not. known; in New foundlana about 130,000 acres; Cuba about 8000 acres; Australia about 30,000; while in British North Borneo there are 160 square miles of proved oil-boaring land, leaving out America, Russia, Burma, Galicia, and many other full working fields elsewhere. These areas are sufficient to show the possibilities. Whilst not going so far as to say as one expert lias done, that- if you allow three wells per acre, the total would reach one million two hundred and fifty thousand wells, I do maintain that, if 25 per cent only of this total became available 'the present output would bo but a bagatelle in comparison. There is, indeed, a large potential market in the world,, and, the only reasons for this market having failed so far to materialise are solely due to uncertainty of supply in combination with the colossal expense of storage and carriage of aij in its liquid state —the only form that up to now has been available. The sources of obtaining oil are in different parts of the world of such enormous magnitude! that it may be taken for granted that when the demand becomes universal, as it will, and is an industrial necessity, the price of fuel oil. will be such as to make- it acceptable to users of coal generally, and for all purposes that coat is now used for.”