A Biblical Treasure Hunt Part 2

THE SEARCH FOR OIL IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

By Philip Mandelker

(installment two of a series, for installment one click here)

Notwithstanding the desertion of the large international oil and gas companies following the establishment of the State, exploration continued in Israel over the ensuing 50 years, albeit in fits and starts, led by Israeli and a number of smaller American and Canadian companies. Among these companies have been at least seven, which have drilled or participated in the drilling of at least 11 exploratory wells, the founders of which were directly inspired by Biblical references they and many of their supporters interpreted as pointing to the existence of oil and gas reservoirs in particular areas in the Land of Israel. An eighth company, Hoshana Oil, directly inspired by Biblical references, acquired an exploration license, but never drilled a well. – A detailed listing of the companies, their founders and their activities is set out in the Appendix.

Interestingly, with the exception of one company, Ness Energy, founded by Texas oilman Harold “Hayseed” Stephens who, inspired by the stories in Genesis concerning the Cities of the Plain, was drawn to and active in the southwestern corner of the Dead Sea, all of the biblically inspired wildcatters have been drawn to areas in the Sharon Plain and on and around Mt. Carmel, just to its north.

Six of the wells drilled over the years by four companies (Asher Oil, Moriah Exploration, Camberly Exploration, Ness Energy) have been relatively shallow, drilled to targets in rocks of Jurassic age (150 million years old) and into younger rocks of Pliocene and Cretaceous age between 650 and 2,682 meters (2,136 and 8,800 feet) deep. These were all dry holes. Five of the wells drilled by another group of companies (Energy Exploration, Givot Olam Oil Exploration and Zion Oil & Gas) have been drilled to much deeper targets, between 3,500 and 6,531 meters (11,484 and 21,428 feet), into older rocks of Triassic age (200 to 250 million years ago). All these deeper wells – the Atlit #1 (known also as the Asher-Atlit well), the Meged #2, Meged #3, Meged #4 and the Ma’anit #1 (re-entry) – have had strong petroleum shows. Projects responsible for the drilling of four of these wells, the three Meged wells and the Ma’anit #1 well (re-entry) are in early 2006 still active: – the Meged wells drilled by Givot Olam, an Israeli public limited partnership, were recognized in 2004 by the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner as having resulted in a discovery although production has not yet been established; and the Ma’anit #1 (re-entry) well, drilled by Zion Oil & Gas, an American company, is undergoing appraisal and analysis.

What is it in the Bible that inspired the founders of these companies, mostly Christian evangelicals, but also a Jewish Habad Hasid, to spend years of their life and a good part of their personal fortunes on these activities? The founders of the companies that drilled the wells both on and at the foot of Mt. Carmel were generally inspired both by the story of Elijah’s sacrifice described in I Kings 18:30-40, believing that the water poured on Elijah’s offering was oil from oil seeps in the area – and also by the Blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy 33:24. The founders of the three companies who drilled and are drilling the deep wells in the central and northern parts of the Sharon Plain and on the Mediterranean coast north of the Plain of Sharon and west of Mt. Carmel were and continue to be inspired primarily by the Blessings of Joseph and Asher in Genesis 49:22-26 and Deuteronomy 33:13-17 and 24. The founder of Hoshana Oil, who was interested in the area just south and east of Mt. Carmel, was inspired by Blessings of Asher and Zebulon and Issachar in Deuteronomy 33:18-19 and 24.

(for a PDF Download of Philip Mandelker’s entire study go to: http://www.oilinisrael.net/resources/biblical-treasure-hunt-free-pdf)

Israel’s Biblical Oil Explorers

THE SEARCH FOR OIL IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

A BIBLICAL TREASURE HUNT

By Philip Mandelker

APPENDIX

SCRIPTURALLY INSPIRED / INFLUENCED PETROLEUM

EXPLORATION IN ISRAEL

_______________________

1.         Company: Asher Oil Company

Founder: Wesley Hancock. California based. A family company was active in oil and gas exploration in the United States.

Scriptural Basis: Blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy and story of Elijah’s sacrifice in I Kings.

Period of Activity: Early-middle 1960s.

Area of Activity: North-east flank of Mt. Carmel overlooking the plain of the Kishon Stream.

Primary Activity: Drilling of two wells:

(i) Asher #1: 1963 – drilled to 2,391 meters (7,845 ft) to a target in the Middle Jurassic. Results: Dry.

(ii) Asher #2: 1965 – drilled to 1,314 meters (4,311 ft) to a target in the Middle Jurassic. Results: Dry

Related Non-Scripturally Inspired Drilling:

In 1975, Sonol, a major Israeli gasoline marketing company reentered the Asher #2 well and deepened it to 2,596 meters (8,517 ft) to a target in the Early Jurassic. In 1980, OEL, an Israeli-government exploration company drilled the Asher #3 near the first two Asher wells to 574 meters (1,883 ft) to a Cretaceous target. Both these wells were dry.

2.         Company: Energy Exploration Inc.

Founder: Andy Sorelle. Texas based petroleum engineer and wildcatter.

Scriptural Basis: Blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy

Period of Activity: First half of 1980s.

Area of Activity: Coastal plain between Mt. Carmel and the Mediterranean Sea, specifically in the area of the town of Atlit.

Primary Activity: Drilling of one well in two stages:

(i) Atlit #1: 1981 – drilled to 5,273 meters (17,301 ft) to a target in the Early Jurassic. Results: Dry

(ii) Atlit #1 Deep: 1982-1983 – deepened the Atlit #1 to 6,531 meters (21,428 ft) to target in Late Triassic. Results: asphalt and then light oil shows in cuttings before well was lost for technical reasons.

3.         Company: Moriah Exploration

Founder: Gilman Hill. Colorado based geoscientist active in oil and gas exploration and developer of exploration technology.

Scriptural Basis: Story of Elijah’s sacrifice in I Kings and the Blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy.

Period of Activity: Early and mid-1980s.

Area of Activity: Mt. Carmel near the traditional site of the Elijah sacrifice.

Primary Activity: Drilling of two wells in 1980 and 1986:

(i) Elijah #1: 1980 – drilled to 2,682 meters (8,800 ft) to a target in the Middle Jurassic. Results: Dry.

(ii) Elijah #2: 1986 – drilled to 651 meters (2,136 ft) to a target in the Cenomanian. Results: Dry.

4.         Company: Ness Energy

Founder: Harold “Hayseed” Stephens. A Texas oil and gas explorationist and operator.

Scriptural Basis: Genesis stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and a long series of scriptural references in various books of the Old Testament.

Period of Activity: 1980s and late 1990s-2001.

Area of Activity: Area surrounding the southwest quadrant of the Dead Sea and adjacent areas.

Primary Activity: Participation in drilling of one well in 1985; acquisition of certain exploration licenses in the late 1990s. The well, the Har Sedom #1 was targeted to be drilled to about 3,500 meters about 11,500 ft), but was lost for technical reasons at 1,818 meters (5,965 ft) in the Pliocene. The exploration licenses were lost following the failure of Ness to meet its obligations under the licenses to commence the drilling of wells on the license areas.

Related Non-Scripturally Inspired Drilling Activity

The Har Sedom #1 project and well were developed and operated by an Israeli commercial oil exploration company, Seismica. Ness Energy held a minority working interest (about 15%) in the well.

5.         Company: Hoshana Oil Company

Founder: Bernard Coffindaffer. West Virginia based evangelical minister and missionary.

Scriptural Basis: Blessings of Asher, Zebulon and Issachar in Deuteronomy

Period of Activity: Early 1990s

Area of Activity: Southern flank of Mt. Carmel and the Valley of Jezreel just east of the South-eastern flank of Mt. Carmel.

Primary Activity: Acquisition of an exploration license and reprocessing and analysis of seismic data. License lapsed with no progress made towards drilling of well.

6.         Company: Camberly Exploration

Founder: Lyle Harron. Canadian oil and gas explorationist.

Scriptural Basis: Blessings of Asher in Deuteronomy

Period of Activity: Early-middle 1990s.

Area of Activity: Coastal plain between Mt. Carmel and the Mediterranean Sea.

Primary Activity: Drilling of one well:

(i) Atlit #2: 1996 – drilled to 1,633 meters (5,388 ft) to a target in the Early Cretaceous. Results: Dry.

7.         Company: Givot Olam Oil Exploration

Founder: Tovia Luskin. Russian born and educated geophysicist, active in oil and gas exploration in Canada and Australia, before moving to Israel.

Scriptural Basis: The Blessings of Joseph in Genesis and Deuteronomy

Period of Activity: 1990s to date

Area of Activity: Eastern portion of Sharon Plain between Netanya and Modiin

Primary Activity: Drilling of three wells commencing in 1994:

(i) Meged #2: 1994 – drilled to 5,200 meters (17,061 ft) to a target in the Triassic. Results: 40⁰ API Silurian aged oil recovered from the Middle Triassic.

(ii) Meged #3: 2000 – drilled to 4,742 meters (15,683 ft) to a target in the Triassic. Results: Oil and gas shows in the Middle Triassic, but reservoir of very poor quality (very low porosity and permeability.)

(iii) Meged #4: 2002/3 – drilled to 4,919 meters (16,139 ft) to a target in the Triassic. Results: 360 API Silurian aged oil recovered from the Middle Triassic. Attempts in 2005 to drill a horizontal bore-hole in the well in an attempt to recover the oil which is located in tight reservoir rock failed apparently for technical reasons, with the well abandoned following loss of equipment in the horizontal bore.

Plans underway to drill another Meged well and attempt to develop the Meged field discovery, which was recognized by the Israel Petroleum Commissioner in 2004.

8.         Company: Zion Oil & Gas, Inc.

Founder: John Brown. Michigan and Texas based businessman with roots in the machine-tool industry and active in building contracting sectors.

Scriptural Basis: The Blessings of Joseph in Genesis and Deuteronomy.

Period of Activity: 1990s to date.

Area of Activity: Manasseh hills and Sharon plain from the southern flanks of Mt. Carmel to Netanya.

Primary Activity: Drilling of a well in 2005:

(i) Ma’anit #1: (Re-entry) 2005 – deepening of previously abandoned Ma’anit #1 from 2,335 meters (7,661 ft) to 4,719 meters (15,483 ft) to targets in the Middle and Early Triassic. Results: The company announced that during drilling and completion operations, the well had numerous significant oil and gas shows in a 2,100-foot interval.

Analysis of the results of the well is continuing and future activity, including designing comprehensive completion procedure and drilling of an appraisal well being considered.

Related Non-Scripturally Inspired Drilling Activity:

The Ma’anit #1 was originally drilled to 2,335 meters (7,661 ft) in 1995 by an Israeli commercial oil exploration company, Sdot Neft. Though originally targeted to 4,500 meters (14,765 ft), it was abandoned as a dry hole after Sdot Neft ran out of money

(for a PDF Download of Philip Mandelker’s entire study go to: http://www.oilinisrael.net/resources/biblical-treasure-hunt-free-pdf)