Zion Oil & Gas Obtains License Extension

DALLAS and CAESAREA, Israel, July 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZN) reported today that the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner has awarded the company a one-year extension on its Asher-Menashe petroleum exploration license in Northern Israel.

Zion’s Asher-Menashe license covers an area of approximately 78,824 acres located on the Israeli coastal plain and the Mount Carmel range between Caesarea in the south and Haifa in the north. The Asher-Menashe License had an initial three-year term, from June 10, 2007 to June 9, 2010 and, in May 2010, the License term was extended by one year, until June 9, 2011. On July 11, 2011, Zion received notification from the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner extending the term of the Asher-Menashe License by a further year, until June 9, 2012.

Richard Rinberg, Zion’s Chief Executive Officer, commented that, “In recent months, we submitted applications to the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner for three further exploration areas: the Dead Sea License Application (covering an area of approximately 74,925 acres), the Asher-Joseph Permit Application (covering an area of approximately 80,000 acres) and the Zebulun Permit Application (covering an area of approximately 157,480 acres). If all of our applications are granted, the total petroleum exploration area under Zion’s control would be approximately 530,346 acres.

The Asher-Menashe License extension carries a commitment to acquire additional seismic data and to begin drilling a well in the License Area no later than June 1, 2012.

The Jordan Valley License carries a commitment to acquire additional seismic data and to drill a well in the License Area no later than April 13, 2013.

We remain excited about the possibility of recovering hydrocarbons on our license and permit areas, onshore Israel, especially due to the U.S. Geological Survey report, published in April 2010, containing their assessment that there may be 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable undiscovered oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin, as all of Zion’s exploration rights fall within the area of the Levant Basin.”

Zion’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “ZN” and Zion’s warrants trade under the symbol “ZNWAW and ZNWAZ”.

Zion Oil & Gas, a Delaware corporation, explores for oil and gas in Israel in areas located onshore between Haifa and Tel Aviv. It currently holds three petroleum exploration licenses, the Joseph License (on approximately 83,272 acres) and the Asher-Menashe License (on approximately 78,824 acres) between Netanya, in the south, and Haifa, in the north and the Jordan Valley License (on approximately 55,845 acres), just south of the Sea of Galilee. The total license area amounts to approximately 217,941 acres.

 

A Biblical Treasure Hunt Part 3

What are these Blessings? How do the founders of these oil and gas exploration companies, many of them oil and gas professionals with years of industry experience, come to connect Biblical verses with potential petroleum reservoirs located deep underground? Is there any possible connection between the Blessings and the story of Elijah’s sacrifice? With other references appearing in historical texts concerning what may possibly be oil seeps in the area of the Carmel?

In what follows I have tried to collect and present the various Biblical and historical references that I understand have inspired the founders of these petroleum exploration ventures.

I. THE BIBLICAL CLUES

THE TRANSLATION: Except where otherwise noted, the translation used is that of The Jerusalem Bible (Koren, Jerusalem, 2000). The Jerusalem Bible is a Bible published with the original Hebrew text and an English translation printed on facing pages. In the words of the editors:

“The English Translation is not essentially new: it is rather a thoroughly corrected, modernized and revised version of those Anglo-Jewish Bibles which have long been accepted for home and synagogue use throughout the English-speaking world. As a basis for this edition, the ‘Jewish Family Bible’ of M. Friedlander, published with the sanction of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Dr. N. M. Adler in 1881, was selected. That version had two important merits: it was faithful to the MASORA, or received Hebrew text, and it retained as much as Jewish sentiment permitted of the unsurpassed language and rhythm of the ‘Authorized Version’ [King James] of 1611. These advantages have been preserved in the present version.

“In addition to the text of Friedlander, a comparison was made with the interesting nineteenth century Jewish Bible of Isaac Lesser, and with other later translations. As a result many fresh readings have been adopted. The language of the older versions has been modernized where it was felt that the ancient linguistic and grammatical forms would cause difficulty for the present-day reader. Also many points of detail have been corrected in the light of modern scholarship, or as a result of fresh application to the TARGUMIM and the classical Jewish commentators.”

For ease of use, proper names do not appear in transliteration from the Hebrew as in The Jerusalem Bible, but in traditional English spelling. Also, rather than using colons followed by small letters to show breaks between sentences as in The Jerusalem Bible which follows the traditional Hebrew punctuation, I follow the modern English tradition using periods followed by capital letters.

A. THE BLESSINGS OF JOSEPH

1. Jacob’s Deathbed Blessing of Joseph:

Genesis 49: 22-26:

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. The archers fiercely attacked him, and shot at him and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made supple by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob (from thence from the shepherd, the Stone of Israel), by the God of thy father who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of thy father are potent above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brothers.”

[Variant Translation: The Jerusalem Bible translation above is based on The King James Version. The Revised Standard Version translates the opening passage of verse 26: “The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the beyond the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills, ….” This translation is based on the Septuagint, the 3rd Century translation of the Bible into Greek by the Jews of Alexandria. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew “HOREI”, literally “parents”, as “mountains” based on the argument that the root “HOR” in this context can also mean mountain as in “HOR HA’HAR” (Numbers 20:22). The translation of the Septuagint was adopted by the Rashbam (Rabbi Samuel ben Meir), the grandson of the noted Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), who lived in the Rhine Valley in the 12th Century. Olam Ha’Tanakh (Davidson–Eti, Tel-Aviv, 1993) [“Olam Ha’Tanakh”], vol. “Breishit” [Genesis], p. 253.]

2. Moses’ Deathbed Blessing of the Tribes of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim):

Deuteronomy 33 : 13-17:

“And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew and for the deep that couches beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of primordial hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and its fullness, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush. Let the blessings come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.”

B. THE BLESSING OF ASHER

Moses’ Deathbed Blessing of the Tribe of Asher

Deuteronomy 33 : 24:

“And of Asher he said, be Asher blessed above sons; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.”

C. MOSES’ SONG OF PRAISE TO GOD AND THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND DEATHBED TESTAMENT TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL

Deuteronomy 32 : 13:

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the fields; and he made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.”

II. THE LANDS OF JOSEPH (MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM) AND ASHER – THE MAP.

Cartographical Note: There is a dispute among scholars as to whether the southern border of Asher extended down the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea and included the northern parts of Mt. Carmel or it ran along the Kishon Stream which flows along the northeastern flank of Mt. Carmel. In all cases it is generally agreed that the Lands of Manasseh abutted on and lay just to the south of the Lands of Asher.

Geographical Note: In the context of appreciating the geological implications of the map of the northern portions of the Lands of Manasseh, it should be mentioned that running approximately from somewhat east of Caesarea in the West to Megiddo in the East and representing the southern boundary of the Mt. Carmel range is Wadi Ara, the Ara Valley or Nahal I’ron (part of the ancient Via Maris or Way of the Sea that ran between Egypt and Damascus) which, from dipping beds and seismic data, geologists infer to be a major fault feature. A fault the size of Wadi Ara in a tectonically active area, in which the Carmel range and the northern Samarian hills (including the Umm-el-Fahm anticline) are located, is a phenomenon which is of major interest to petroleum geologists and explorationists.

Asher’s Shoes of Iron and Brass?

I just stumbled on something fascinating regarding the mention of Asher’s ‘shoes’ in Deuteronomy. 33:25, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” (KJV). My father, Jim Spillman, as you may know, was the man who first publicly theorized that Jacob’s Blessing contained a promise of a massive oil discovery in Israel in his book, The Great Treasure Hunt. Part of his thesis included Deuteronomy 33:24 “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.” That scripture was only a small part of the evidence linking Jacob’s Blessing to an Israeli oil discovery.

The passage directly following “let him dip his foot in oil” (Deuteronomy33:25, above) states that Asher’s “shoes shall be iron and brass”. The working components of oil rigs are constructed of a combination of iron and brass in order to prevent sparking, in order to prevent oil fires. Dad always believed that Asher’s ‘shoes’ being iron and brass referred to oil rigs being constructed of iron and brass components and thus, a further fulfillment of prophecy.

Dad studied the Bible in Hebrew and Greek but the English translation he preferred was the King James Version. Something that bothered me was that other English Bible versions translated “shoes” as “bars” (ESV) or “bolts of your gates” (NIV). So I searched out the Hebrew word all these versions were translating.

Here’s what I found: The Hebrew word translated ‘shoes’ in the KJV is ‘man’al’ – Strong’s literal meaning in English is “a bolt: – shoe” The definition didn’t sink in at first because I was a little bothered about something else I discovered – this was the only time in the Bible that the Hebrew word ‘man’al’ was used as ‘shoes’. Every other mention of ‘shoe’ or ‘shoes’ in the Bible was the Hebrew word ‘na’al’ which was the common term meaning a ‘shoe’ one would wear on his foot. So clearly, there was a difference between Asher’s ‘shoes’ in Deut. 33:25 and all the other ‘shoes’ mentioned in the Bible.

I found that ‘man’al’ (bolt/shoe) and ‘na’al’ (common term for shoe) had the same root, ‘nâ’al’ (different pronunciation than ‘na’al’) – meaning ‘to fasten up’. Both the Hebrew words for ‘bolt’ and ‘shoe’ come from the same root, ‘to fasten up’, because both are ‘fastened’. Only the Deut. 33:25 word ‘man’al’ carries the double meaning of bolt and shoe!

So it looks like old Dad was righter than he thought. Asher’s ‘shoes/bolts’ will be iron and brass!

A final note: When the Zion Oil crew is finished with the hole at Elijah #3, they will most likely install a heavy, cylindrical section of steel filled with concrete at the end of the casing string. This is to prevent the casing string from hanging up in the hole. The proper term for the heavy steel section at the end of the casing? The guide shoe.

“Thy shoes shall be of iron and brass …” Amazing!

“After snuffing, the wellhead must be ‘capped’ to stop the flow of fuel. During this time, the fuel and oxygen required to create another inferno is present in copious amounts. At this perilous stage, one small spark (perhaps from a steel or iron tool striking a stone) or other heat source might re-ignite the fuel. To prevent re-ignition, brass or bronze tools, which do not strike sparks, or paraffin coated tools are used during the capping process.” (From: “Fire at the Wellhead”)

Zion Oil Begins Drilling Elijah #3

According to Zion CEO Richard Rinberg’s ‘Zion Oil & Gas Newsletter’, Zion Oil began drilling the Elijah #3 well last week and by last Friday’s report, drilling depth on the Elijah #3 had reached 400 feet.

The Elijah #3 well site is located on northern Israel’s coastal plain near Mount Carmel, between Caesarea and Haifa, in Zion’s ‘Asher/Menashe” license area. Zion Oil’s Elijah #3 isn’t the first oil well to be drilled in this area and Zion Oil isn’t the first company to come to this region, known in the Bible as the ‘foot of Asher’, seeking the fulfillment of an ancient Bible prophecy. “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.‘” (Deuteronomy 33:24)

Wesley Hancock

In 1961, Bible believing Californian, Wesley Hancock was awarded an exploration license area of 97,000 acres including Mount Carmel and extended into parts of the Jezreel Valley, known as the “Valley of Megiddo,” site of the prophesied last days battle of Armageddon. Armed with a report forecasting Israel’s oil potential, and his Asher passage in Deuteronomy 33, Wesley went looking for Asher’s oil. On September 19, 1963 Wesley spudded the Asher #1, north and east of Mount Carmel near Haifa. Asher #1 had reached a depth of 7,800 feet when the drill head twisted off, taking seven drill collars with it. After the twist-off, chances of drilling any deeper were nil. By January of 1964, testing in the hole above 7,800 feet revealed that the Asher #1 was dry. In 1965 Wesley commissioned a hydrocarbon survey of his license area. This was the first petroleum survey of its kind in Northern Israel. The survey results led to choosing his location for the Asher #2 well. Hancock drilled the Asher #2 to a depth of 4,300 feet and core samples showed traces of oil. The Asher #2, however, was shut down; Hancock, without any other investors, had run out of money and was unable to continue drilling.

Gilman Hill

In 1979 Gilman Hill, an American evangelical Christian, came to Israel looking for Asher’s oil. According to Hill, God directed him to drill for oil and showed him the well’s location during a 1978 tour of Mount Carmel. Gill had completed preliminary geological surveys and fulfilled permit requirements to begin drilling by 1980.
Hill’s well, Elijah #1, was planned to be drilled to the upper Triassic strata, a depth of 15,000 to 16,000 feet. At 8,900 feet Gilman halted the drilling. According to Hill, God gave him the message, “circumstances have changed,” Gil was convinced that he was to cease drilling until further notice from God. Gil continued his geologic research for another six years waiting for a Divine release to resume drilling. The release never came. After spending $6 million of his own money on Mount Carmel, drawn by the Bible’s promise that Asher would “dip his foot in oil,” Gilman Hill had failed to find the elusive flow.

Andy SoRelle

About the same time Hill started drilling Elijah #1, a Texas oil man named Andy SoRelle was busy preparing to drill the Atlit #1 well near Haifa, known as the Asher Project. SoRelle’s well was spudded in February 1981, the same year Jim Spillman’s book, The Great Treasure Hunt,  was released. Spillman and SoRelle were mutual supporters, each understandably interested in the work of the other. Throughout the Asher Project  SoRell updated Spillman on the progress of the well they both believed would strike the oil God had promised.
At 9,400 feet the drill bit hit volcanic rock.  They drilled down through another 7600 feet before finally coming into limestone again. The drill bit, now at 17,296 feet was way beyond the rig’s capacity. Fearing he would lose the hole, Atlit’s drilling supervisor shut down the operation until a larger rig could be brought in.
December 28, 1982 a new drill rig, rated at 26,000 feet was installed over the original hole. This new phase, dubbed the Atlit #II was planned to bring the well as deep as 23,000 feet. By February of 1983 the well had been cleaned out and depth had been increased to 18,000 feet.
Drilling continued without incident until, at 20,570 feet Atlit II struck oil! What oil experts call “very good shows” came to the surface; graded as light oil at 35 to 40 degrees API. SoRelle continued to a final depth of 21,431 feet. The zone of oil bearing rock, was estimated at 470 feet, from 20,570 to 21,309 feet. Two years after spudding, the drilling phase of the Atlit well was finally complete!
During development problems emerged again. Financing for the project had been on a shoe-string at best. The crew had stopped casing the well at 13,772 feet.  Not having funds for additional casing and reasoning that the volcanic rock they had struggled through was stable enough to hold the hole open the crew had continued drilling in “open hole.”

As the crew was cleaning the hole in preparation for the production casing, drill collars stuck at 18,669 ft and two weeks of jarring would not break them loose. Special equipment was flown to retrieve the string (130 ft. in length) and, while cleaning the hole to “fish” with the new equipment they stuck again at the 17,772 ft mark. After ten more days of trying to break loose, they came out leaving another 8 ½ foot fish in the hole.

August 24, 1983, more than two and a half years after spudding, Andy SoRelle called it quits for the Atlit hole.  Having spent more than $25 million, his own money and that of his investors, Andy gave up on the Atlit well.

The history of the search for Asher’s oil doesn’t seem very promising. But if God said of Asher, ‘… let him dip his foot in oil …’ then I’m convinced He’ll keep His promise in His own time. One thing I do know; the oil is down there. Hancock saw it and SoRelle saw it. That Asher’s oil exists is a fact, when it will be brought to the surface is the only question.

Zion Oil & Gas Appoints New Board Member

Dear Shareholder and/or Friend of Zion,

We have recently appointed our Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Martin Van Brauman, to our Board of Directors.   As you can read in the Press Release below, Martin has impressive qualifications and experience.   Zion is lucky to have such a high caliber individual.

Sincerely yours

John Brown Chairman of the Board and Founder

Zion Oil & Gas Appoints New Board Member

Wednesday August 13, 11:53 am ET

DALLAS–Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Amex: ZN – News), of Dallas, Texas and Caesarea, Israel, announced today that Mr. Martin Van Brauman has been elected as a Director of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. Mr. Van Brauman is currently Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Zion.

Mr. Van Brauman holds a B.E. degree from Vanderbilt University, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from St. Mary’s University and an M.B.A. and LL.M. (Tax Law), from Southern Methodist University. Mr. Van Brauman has over 22 years of experience in corporate tax and accounting analysis and is Board Certified in Tax Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. In addition to working as a tax partner in several private law firms, Mr. Van Brauman spent 12 years as a Senior Attorney (International Specialist and Petroleum Industry Specialist) with the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, following which he spent three years as a tax consultant with the global accounting firms of Deloitte & Touche and Grant Thornton.

Mr. John Brown, Chairman of the Board and Founder, said that the appointment of Mr. Van Brauman as a Director of the Company strengthens Zion’s Board and that he looks forward to Mr. Van Brauman’s future contribution to the company.

Zion Oil & Gas, Inc., a Delaware corporation, explores for oil and gas in Israel in areas located onshore between Tel-Aviv and Haifa. It currently holds two petroleum exploration licenses, the Joseph and Asher-Menashe Licenses, between Netanya on the south and Haifa on the north covering a total of approximately 162,000 acres.