N. Guinea

Oil In Papua And

prospects in a wide area extending ” from Jokea westwards to the Fly River in Papua and, in particular, the coastal region of the Gulf Division, offer very definite possibilities, according to Mr.

J. Nason-Jones, a prominent geologist who has done much survey work in Papua and New Guinea, in a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald on April 10.

“I am convinced that with care and the exercise of modern geological knowledge a suitable structure could be located in this area, in which the only known species and oil indications occur,” he said.

Comparing the petroleum possibilities of New Guinea with Papua, Mr. Nason-Jones said that he was geologist in charge of the joint Commonwealth anil Anglo-Persian survey in the Aitape district which con cluded its fieldwork in 1929. That area appeared to be more promising than any other examined within the confines of the Mandated Territory. The “promise” was only relative, however, and an examina tion of the anticlinal features discovered and mapped revealed no structures really suitable for the accumulation of oil in com mercial quantities.

Referring to the reported oilfield found in Dutch New Guinea, he said that the Federal Government should arrange for Dutch geologists to examine the mandated areas as the relationship between the Finsch Coast (Aitape area) and that of N.W. Dutch New Guinea was clearly demonstrated. Alternatively, he suggested that Australian geologists should “proceed across the border to confer with the Dutch scientists, to pool their knowledge, to examine the drilling evidence, and to study in situ the stratigraphy and structure of a proved petroliferous series.”

The men best fitted to undertake and profit by such a study would undoubtedly be Messrs. G. A. V. Stanley and J. N.

Montgomery, who have had wide experi ence in New Guinea and who are at pre sent in the employ of Oil Search Ltd., working in the Aitape District, added Mr.

Nason-Jones.

“I believe that Australia’s interests from the points of view of both defence require ments and commerce, may yet best be served by chemical rather than geological science—by attention to her oil-shale deposits and their development, irrespective of cost or initial losses. Half such “losses” exist only as a figment of the bureaucratic imagination of the Treasury, Customs and Excise Department who forsee the need for curtailing the absurdly high taxation on overseas petroleum products,” he con cluded.