Why Oil Is Being Sought
p. 64 · Read in the full issue
In Papua
A PAMPHLET, issued by the Austra lasian Petroleum Co. Pty. Ltd., which is spending a quarter of a million pounds this year on the search for oil in Papua, gives an interesting and, for purposes of reference, valuable account of the manner in which the search for oil has been carried on. both in Papua and New Guinea, on which nearly £2,000,000 has been spent, up to date.
The pamphlet reads like a romance.
There is a description of how geologists, equipped with scientific instruments, aeroplanes and maps made by aerial photography, have selected a site for the first big deep-drilling test, machin ery for which is now being assembled.
The book gives an interesting and accurate history of the oil production position throughout the world. It is noted, for example, that the world pro duces 283,000,000 metric tons of oil. Of this total, only the following countries contribute one million tons or more:
One sees, in that table, one reason why oil is being so eagerly sought in Panua. Of all those oil countries listed, only three or four of the smaller sup pliers are within the British Empire.
Mr M M. Brodie, manager of the Pacific Biscuit Co, Suva, left Sydney for Fiji early in April.
Country.
Metric tons.
United States 169.907,000 Venezuela 30,948,033 Soviet Union 30,137,174 10,214,911 Dutch Bast Indies Rumania Mexico Iraq Colombia Trinidad Peru British India 8,550,890 6,313,900 6.015.000 3.956.000 3,206,415 2,709.564 2,625,500 1.712.000 1.346,685 1,023,471 Bahrein 1,000.000