U.K. Plant Finds Australian Oil
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BRITISH oilfield vehicles and equipment have been successfully employed in locating an oil-bearing area at Learmouth in the dry, rocky slopes of Western Australia. Ncws of this discovery was announced by . the Australian Government this week. It was also disclosed that various oil companies had been searching the area intermittently for about 30 years, one company alone spending £A1m, in maintaining survey groups.
Following the formation of the Western Australian Petroleum Proprietary, Ltd., in 1951, the Caltex Oil company engaged British consultants, Seismograph Service, Ltd., to carry out survey work in a 250-mile area between Carnarvon and Onslow. No roads and few trucks existed in the area and light four-wheel-drive vehicles were required. Land-Rovers have been used on this project for crew and surveying work, whilst the heavier equipment has been carried by Kew-built Dodge 6-ton shortwheelbase chassis converted to fourwheel drive by Universal Power Drives, Ltd., Perivale, Middx.
Drills and water tanks were fitted by Hands-England Oilfields Equipment, Ltd., Letchworth, Hens, the 600-ft. drill weighing about four tons. British crews were engaged oil the survey work and the progress was so satisfactory that the exploration was completed ahead of schedule.
Although the water trucks were operated with two shifts of drivers, often covering over 200 miles a day over scrub land and sand, no mechanical faults developed and the vehicles are now being prepared for use in another continent. This is believed to be the first occasion on which all-British crews and equipment have been engaged in oil exploration.