Search For Oil
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
Big Equipment Coming South
AN interesting but, as yet unexplained message from Singapore, on Febru ary 27, said; “Oil fields in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea are to be exploited on a large scale.
“Large quantities of pipes and other material have reached Java, Netherlands India, for transhipment to New Guinea.”
This shows the usual newspaper muddle regarding all news relating to the Islands. If material is arriving at Java in this fashion, it clearly is intended for Dutch New Guinea, where prospecting and drilling have been in hand for well over a year by a combination of the major oil companies.
The equipment, however, may be In* tended for transhipment from Java to Papua, where the same oil companies have recently commenced an oil search on a very big scale, and where they may have reached the stage of needing pipes.
The same search is proceeding in the Mandated Territory of N.G., but on a more limited scale; and, out of the three territories, the Mandated Territory is the least likely to need pipes.