Pacific Commerce and Produce

The Oil Search Announcement

Vacuum Oil Co. Pty. Ltd., a major partner of Oil Search Ltd., has told Oil Search that it is not prepared to contribute towards an extra £BOO,OOO now required over and above the drilling budget agreed in June, 1957.

The £BOO,OOO is needed to complete the present drilling programme in Papua, involving four wells —Barikewa, Puri, Komewu No. 2 and Kuru No. 3.

Oil Search holds slightly more than a 10 p.c. interest in APC and lEC, which is carrying out the field operations in Papua.

Exactly what the new decision means was not clear at the begin ning of February, when the decision was made, but the apparent loss of confidence in the search for oil by Vacuum quickly sent the Oil Search shares on the Sydney Exchange down to 3/6, and they were 3/5 on February 11.

Oil Search directors made it clear in a statement that the decision did not mean that the possibility of commercial oil in Papua had been eliminated, and that “other arrangements” might be made to continue the search for oil. They said attention would also be turned to the commercial possibilities of gas already discovered in the drill ing.

Presumably this meant that another partner might be found to help carry the burden. The other major partner, British Petroleum, will see the present programme through to the end.

And, of course, there was always the chance that something might be discovered by the drills before the end of 1958.

Other Commercial news, including the latest APC report:

Australasian Petroleum Co.: Substantial

flows of gas were obtainable from the com pany's Barikewa well in Papua in mid-January without exciting the stockmarket interest that would have resulted a few years ago. Depth of the well at that stage was 8,025 ft. and the frozen drill pipe that had given trouble the previous month had been freed and re moved. Drilling had stopped pending testing of porous zones from which gas was escaping. * * *

Bulolo Gold Dredging, Ltd.: Production

report for the quarter ending November 30, 1957, showed yardage dredged to be 1,793,400 yards for a recovery of 9,192 oz fine gold.

This gave a value per yard of 17.94 US cents —compared with 23.41 cents per yard obtained in the same period last year. However, in 1956 period two dredges were working; only one dredge was working in the period under review.

Burns Philp And Co., Ltd.. Featuj

Sydney stock exchange trading on Januas was the rise of 3/- per Burns Philp taking the price to 70/ —the highest 1952. BP shares reached an all-time! in the boom year of 1951 when they te £5/18/-. A year ago they were down to * * *

Burns Philp Trust Co., Ltd.: This!

pany will pay a dividend of 6 per cent, cent, in previous year) for the 12 mont till December 31, 1957.

Net income was £8,376—a small im over 1956 but gross income rose by £2,7 £41,222.

The company was formed as a Burns and Co. subsidiary in 1938 but did no a dividend until 1956. * * *

Enterprise Of New Guinea Gold!

PETROLEUM DEV.: The mine manager re= January 9, that 20 oz of retorted gold I had been yielded by 26 tons of develo ore treated during December.

LOLORUA ESTATES: Fall of about 10.< per lb in the price of rubber in th<i year was the reason given by directos the cut in the interim dividend from T cent, to 7\ per cent. A fall of 6d per in Lolorua followed this announcement.

New Guinea Goldfields, Ltd.: Repo

December discloses that during that mont oz of fine gold and 1,097 oz of silven recovered from 3,576 tons of ore and tl treated at the Golden Ridges Mill; 1 fine gold were recovered from Golden alluvials; 33 oz fine gold from Ki alluvials; 72 oz fine gold from tribute addition 175,544 super ft. of timber produced.

Papuan Apinaipi Petroleum Co.,

This company announced in early Januan it had suspended drilling of its Kaufana well at 3,380 ft. The action has been pending appraisal of electric logs and of palaeontological examination. The we; spudded in only in December. Associated tralian Oilfields NL and Associate Frene Fields NL hold a substantial interest in R Apinaipi. * * * PAPUAN RUBBER: Steamships Tradinr acting as agents reported the Decembe; puts of the following rubber plantatioi Kerema Rubber Estate, 30,200 lb; M Rubber Estate, 70,063 lb; Rubberlands 30,246 lb; Lolorua Rubber Estate, 36,01 Kerema and Mariboi both showed subs; falls. Heavy rain on the estate was respn for the fall in Kerema production. * * *

Sandy Creek Gold Sluicing, Ltd., I

that during the month of December a|i mately 462 oz of gold were recovered!: 1,500 cubic yards of material treated « company's NG leases. * * *

Sydney Stock Exchange

February 3

Buyer !

Burns Philp 65/9 6* Burns Philp (SS) 42/9 A CSR £42| ft Dylup Plantations .. 11/9 T Hackshalls 38/- S Kauri Timber 19/9 T Kerema Rubber 10/9 If Koitaki n.q. T Lolorua Rubber Estates .. —

boi Rubber . . .. 5/- 6/- )lk Is.

Whaling . . . 4/4 4/4 nsland Insurance . . . 66/- 70/nsland Insurance (new) — — jrlands .. 5/2 5/4 Pacific Insurance . . 54/- — Pac.

Insurance (new) 54/- — iships Trading .. 47/3 47/6 • Oil . . 4/5 4/7 . Carpenter . , . — !. Carpenter H'ld. . . 12/3 12/6

Oil And Mining Shares

Fiji

Aug., '39 June, '57 Feb. 3, '58 •or . . . b/9/11 blO/3 b5/6 a . . . S25/6 b27/b29/-

Papua-New

Guinea

i . . . . b 124/b45/b37/- , Ltd. . . bl/10 b2/2 s2/0£ •arch . . b3/l1 b!4/11 s5/5 of N.G . . — s2/s9d o Oil . . b5/b6/6 s4/9 n Apin . . b4/l1 b3/6 b2/- Dev. . . b68/6 b101/6 b82/- Creek . bl/5 s6d s4d