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Kōrero: Oil and gas

Oil seep, Kōtuku

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Oil seep, Kōtuku

Oil and gas naturally rise towards the earth’s surface wherever there is a way up. If fault lines, fissures or cracks allow, petroleum emerges on the ground as sticky, oily deposits known as seeps. Early oil exploration in New Zealand focused on drilling in the vicinity of these seeps. However, it did not always follow that there was oil directly below, as the oil and gas might have taken a winding path.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Private collection

by Simon Nathan

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Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Roger Gregg rāua ko Carl Walrond, Oil and gas – Early petroleum exploration, 1865–1960, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/8916/oil-seep-kotuku (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Roger Gregg rāua ko Carl Walrond, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.