Zerah and Ginko get Negev gas exploration license

The Orly prospect is north of Arad.

Globes Online: Mira Awwad 16 Feb 10 17:46

The Orly license covers a 102,400 (50,600-acre) area in the southern Judean Desert, above the Dead Sea.

Under the terms of the license, Zerah and Ginko will conduct a 2D seismic survey of the prospect by mid-October 2010, analyze the results and submit a drilling proposal by mid-February 2011. They will begin drilling a 2,000-meter well by mid-October 2011, and submit a report for further operations at the well within four months of the completion of the well.

Last week, Zerah obtained the offshore Gulliver license.

Oil Discovered Near Dead Sea

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) – An Israeli oil exploration group said on Sunday it has found indications of oil in drilling near the Dead Sea.

But the group said it was not yet clear if there were commercial quantities of oil at the Tzuk Tamrur 4 site.

“A preliminary analysis found the target with oil-bearing sandstone,” it said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The site was drilled to a depth of 2,040 metres and the group plans to drill further to 2,150 metres.

When drilling is complete the group will then decide whether it was viable to pursue production tests, it said.

Zerah Oil and Gas Exploration (ZRAHp.TA) owns half of the exploration group, with Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) and Avner Oil Exploration (AVNRp.TA) owning 25 percent each. Delek and Avner are units of conglomerate Delek Group (DELKG.TA).

Zerah’s shares were up 14.7 percent in afternoon trading. Delek Drilling’s shares were 0.2 percent lower and Avner’s shares were down 1 percent, compared with losses of 2.3 percent on the broader Tel Aviv bourse. (Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Zerah teams with Delek to expand Dead Sea oil exploration

GLOBES

Thu. October 15, 2009

Zerah teams with Delek to expand Dead Sea oil exploration: In 1995, a 2,000-meter well was drilled in the Halamish section, which found oil and gas.

Zerah Oil And Gas Explorations LP (TASE: ZRAH) is expanding its activity in the Dead Sea. The company has bought the 335-square kilometer Zurim license from Fore Group Ltd. subsidiary Ginko Oil Exploration Ltd., which abuts Zerah’s license. Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) units owns half of a 35 square kilometer section of the Zurim License, known as the Halamish section through Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) and Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L).

Zerah will pay for the Zurim license out of future revenue from oil or gas production, if any. Zerah will pay Ginko a 2.5 percent royalty of revenue and provide it a $2 million grant, provided that an independent expert determines that the oil and gas reserves in the license are worth at least $250 million. In addition, the Supervisor of Oil at the Ministry of National Infrastructures will have to declare a discovery at the license, and the partnerships’ revenue from a discovery at the Zurim license will exceed $100 million.

In 1995, a 2,000-meter well was drilled in the Halamish section, which found oil and gas. However, no production was carried out because the price of oil at the time rendered the discovery uneconomical.

The Halamish partners intend to drill a new well at the site, which is about five kilometers from Tzuk Tamrur 4 site, where Zerah and Delek are due to begin drilling a well this month. The 2,000-meter well will cost $4-5 million. A seismic study of the structure found a closed structure with 6.6 million barrels of good-quality oil, currently worth a gross value of $470 million.

Israeli Group to Start Drilling for Dead Sea Oil

An Israeli consortium that includes a group largely responsible for the recent discovery of natural gas deposits off the country’s Mediterranean coast plans to begin exploratory drilling for oil at the Dead Sea next month.

The Delek Group headed by Yitzhak Tshuva previously headed the consortium that found billions of dollars worth of natural gas just 50 miles off the coast of the northern Israel city of Haifa. Tshuva is convinced that other sources of energy exist in the country, including oil deposits worth at least half a billion dollars under and around the Dead Sea.

Following his consortium’s natural gas find earlier this year, Tshuva said he believed Israel would very soon become energy independent, and even start exporting natural gas, leading to a major economic revolution in the country.

But Tshuva won’t be alone in his search for oil in Israel. Texas-based, Christian-run Zion Oil & Gas has been searching for oil in Israel since 2000. Founder John Brown says the Bible makes it clear Israel will be energy independent in the last days. The company’s two exploratory drillings have so far given inconclusive results, but have sparked enough optimism for Zion Oil & Gas to continue its operations.

Zion’s Search for Oil in Israel on French TV

French news agency AFP recently filmed a short news piece on the biblical search for oil in Israel featuring John Brown of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. and Ginko Oil Exploration in the Dead Sea region of Israel.

Supporting Israel’s Military Action in Gaza

I’ve had some e-mails asking if the war in Gaza is a threat to Israel’s oil and gas exploration.  The current on-shore efforts by Zion Oil & Gas in the north and Ginko in the Dead Sea region aren’t near enough to Gaza to be under any immediate threat related to this action. Off-shore gas exploration in the north isn’t affected for the same reason. And the long-term stability of gas fields  off the coast of Gaza could only be improved by Israel ousting Hamas and working toward a sustainable peace in Gaza. Everybody, including British Gas, who works the field, Egypt, Gaza’s (and Israel’s) neighbor to the south and Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas agree on that one. So ‘does the current action in Gaza put oil and gas exploration and production in Israel at risk?’ The quick answer is ‘no,’ I don’t think so.

But everything is relative. Israel isn’t a very big country. Geographically it’s a little smaller than New Jersey and it’s population (a little over 7 million) is smaller than New Jersey’s (almost 9 million). Imagine New Jersey as an independent country surround by enemies  and with a war on one of its borders. Israel is always under a potential threat from at least one of its neighbors and any military action anywhere in the country is going to affect the country and its people as a whole.

My friend, Richard Rinberg, CEO of Zion Oil, has two children in the Israeli military. Thankfully they are not at the tip of the spear in this current action, but many of the Rinberg family friends are. If you’re an Israeli, you’re affected by what’s happening in Gaza; it’s inescapable.

But, again,  everything is relative. What’s also inescapable is the history of Israel’s greatest ally standing at her side. The US has stood by Israel since her re-birth in 1948. But I’m not talking about the US; Israel has a much older, much greater ally. Israel’s greatest military leader penned these words a long time ago: “May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the G_d of Jacob protect you.”

He also reminded the Israeli people where to place their trust in national emergencies: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our G_d.” Israel’s king David was the leader who penned those words. You can read them in Psalm 20. If you want to say a prayer for Israel today, Psalm 20 is a good one.

As far as Israel’s oil is concerned? Israel’s G_d has that in hand as well.

Exploratory Drilling for Oil in Judean Desert Passes Final Hurdle

Back in August we reported on oil exploration efforts in the Judean Reserve of southern Israel. It looks like the Ginko/Delek/Avner partnership has past a final hurdle with the state of Israel. Environmental concerns on Reserve land have been the primary issue in delaying exploration approval.

Below is the November 6 Jerusalem Post article. The original article can be viewed at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1225910056665.

Exploratory drilling for oil in Judean Desert passes final hurdle

The Jerusalem Post November 6, 2008

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS

The Council of National Parks and Nature Reserves on Thursday approved exploratory drilling for oil in the Judean Desert Nature Reserve, where three companies – Ginko Oil Exploration, Delek Energy Systems, and Avner – believe there could be as much as 6.5 million barrels’ worth.

Drilling for oil in the Judean Desert was approved yesterday by the Council of National Parks and Nature Reserves.

The companies believe that Zuk Tamrur 4, just north of Route 31 from Arad to the Dead Sea, is the best chance Israel has to find oil. That many barrels of oil, while not enough to power the country for more than a month, would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

The council’s okay followed approval by the Nature and Parks Authority’s (NPA) Assembly, its highest governing body. The 23-member council advises the Environmental Protection Ministry and the NPA on matters of policy. It includes government, environmental, academic and public representatives.

Ginko director Rami Karmin told The Jerusalem Post Thursday that the drilling, the equipment and environmental requirements would cost between $5 million and $7m.

Hebrew University Institute of Earth Sciences Raymond F. Kravis Professor of Geology (Emeritus) Zvi Garfunkel told the Post Thursday that the fact that oil had been found previously could mean there was more.

“In previous drillings, they found a little bit of oil. Indeed, this is Zuk Tamrur 4. There might be a larger reservoir [around there]. But drilling companies usually keep the results of their surveys private,” he said. “There is no smoke without fire, but how big the smoke is and how big the fire is – only the companies know.”

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) vehemently opposed the decision because of its potential impact on the reserve’s fragile ecosystem.

“The state’s institutions are obligated to protect the open spaces, the nature reserves, and most certainly such a special reserve like the Judean Desert, where biodiversity and an ecological system exist almost in their entirety. Therefore we are distressed that this was the decision reached,” Shai Tachnai, SPNI’s southern district coordinator for the preservation of nature, said in a statement.

SPNI quoted the representative of the National Infrastructures Ministry saying at the meeting Thursday morning that there was a 15-percent chance of finding oil below the reserve.

“In the last decade, we have brought about a revolution and turned the Negev and the Judean Desert from a land of quarries to a land of machteshim (erosion craters) and natural attractions. A 15% chance of finding oil does not justify the irreversible damage expected to occur,” Tachnai said.

Regarding that number, Karmin said the companies had never published such an assessment, but “we are optimistic.”

While SPNI protested, the NPA and Environmental Protection Ministry’s representatives voted in favor of the drilling Thursday. During the negotiations for approval from the NPA’s assembly, it was agreed that if oil were found, the pumping would take place from outside the reserve and the companies would rehabilitate any damage caused.

To test for oil, the companies would drill a 2,000-meter hole over 1.25 acres.

Delek Energy Systems and Avner are both controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva.

Does Israel Have Oil? Wrong Question.

Does Israel really have oil? That seems to be the question everyone’s asking. Maybe it’s the wrong question. Turn’s out, Exxon and Shell have known about Israel’s oil for nearly ten years. Here’s a clipping from The Jerusalem Post, March 5, 1999. I’ll copy the text here since the clipping is a little hard to read (click on the clipping for a cleaner version).

ISRAEL IS OIL-RICH, EXPLORATION-POOR

Sir-

As a geologist and managing director of various oil exploration companies in Israel over the past 20 years, I was quoted in several paragraphs of Michael Arnold’s article “Slippery dreams” (January 22). I would like to amend and add certain facts as follows:

The oil potential of Israel was evaluated twice at the request of the Israeli government. In 1962, Lewis Weeks, the former chief geologist at Exxon, determined that “the potential ultimate oil resources of Israel should be of the order of 500 to 2,000 million barrels from primary recovery… The figures do not include gas… which may equal 50% and upwards of that of the oil.”

In 1979, James Wilson, former chief geologist or Shell (US) determined that on-shore Israel (the off-shore and the Dead Sea Rift Valley were not included) has a potential of330 to 2,000 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Both these experts have been president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Since the Wilson evaluation in 1979, extensive data have been accumulated relating to on-shore and off-shore Israel. From this data, it becomes clear that the total may exceed 2,000 million barrels.

Israel’s per annum consumption amounts to about 70 million barrels.

The 1962 evaluation predicted that “the finding and recovery of this oil and gas may require many decades” -and evidently assumed that such efforts would be made. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.

It is most likely that this failing is one of the main reasons why the forecast potential has not yet been discovered.

YOSSI LANGOTSKY

Herzliya

 2,000 million barrels? That’s 2 billion barrels. That’s Exxon and Shell saying it. So the question isn’t “does Israel have any oil?” The question is, “If the big boys have known about this for so long, why haven’t they done anything about it?” The answer, unfortunately, is pretty easy. They’ve got larger, established assets in the Arab world and the Arab world has told them, “If you do business with Israel, don’t bother doing business here.” That’s what the 1973 oil embargo was all about.

What’s Israel’s answer? Keep supporting those who are exploring for the oil they know is there. What can we do about it? Stop wondering if Israel really has any oil. It does. If you want to see it come to the surface, support the exploration already in country. This piece of history will come about, and it won’t be long until it does. Those involved in that effort are destined to be written in to the story of Israel’s future.

Israel Strikes Oil

(Prophecy Today Archive October 13, 2006) Story by Shofar Communications Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ed Horner; Photos by Allison Horner. Article courtesy of Prophecy Today. The original article can be viewed at http://jimmydeyoung.gospelcom.net/pp/israelifront/2006_10_13_archive.html.

Surrounded by the richest oil countries in the world, many would wonder why Israel has never found oil. Now they have. Ginko Oil Exploration, led by Dr. Eli Tannenbaum, has located a potentially large oil field in the Dead Sea region of Israel.

The Dead Sea, near a large oil deposit

Dr. Tannembaum and other specialists on site

In an effort to attract financial partners to harvest the oil, Ginko Oil Exploration reopened a small previously drilled oil well near the Dead Sea and began extracting oil. In an on site interview with Dr. Tannenbaum, he said this first strike is very exciting because it shows that there is oil in the region that can be harvested. He said that Ginko will begin drilling the second well within two months and that the second well should produce a much more significant amount of oil.

An exploration oil rig

One step in the process of oil extraction

Dr. Tannenbaum says that this oil region is not directly connected with surrounding oil fields, but that the sources of the oil deep inside the earth’s crust could be related. He said the oil field in the Dead Sea region is on a deep rift (or tear) similar to Libyan or Egyptian oil fields. The Dead Sea region is the lowest point on earth at almost 400 meters below sea level. Tannenbaum says that he does not foresee Israel’s drilling of oil to be detrimental to surrounding nations’ oil fields.

Ed speaks with Dr. Tannenbaum

Ed speaks with Ginko Exploration’s Site Supervisor

Ginko Exploration’s Site Supervisor said that Israel currently has two oil refineries that could refine the newly extracted crude oil. The extracted crude oil would be taken to the refineries by truck. Israel does not currently have an oil pipeline from this region, and it would most likely not need one in the near future.

Here is Israel’s future oil field

Lead Geologist, Dr. Eli Tannenbaum

My wife and I had the privilege of watching some of Israel’s first oil being pumped from 1800 Meters beneath our feet. Ginko began dismantling the exploration rig while we were on site. They were then going to place a permanent pump on the well as the first of many in the region.

The flow of oil must be carefully monitored

A head on oil well

Israelis currently pay the highest gas prices in the Middle East. Gasoline is approximately $6.50 per gallon and Diesel is $5 per gallon. If Israel could produce its own fuel, it could mean lower prices at the pump for the average Israeli.

The oil is just flowing from this dig

Oil being extracted

Oil in Israel can mean less economic dependence on oil from surrounding countries. It could also mean fewer political negotiations with oil producing countries that routinely plot the demise of Israel.

A Dead Sea Oil Discovery in Jordan?

Seems like we can’t get enough Dead Sea oil discovery news lately. Just today The Jordan Times ran an article apparently confirming the existence of a Dead Sea oil discovery on their side of the  salt lake.

According to The Jordan Times:

After years of disappointment, many came to accept that the Kingdom is home to little or no oil reserves.

But with recent claims of the possibility of Jordanian oil, and a parliamentary committee examining the issue, the subject has been elevated to a national discourse steeped in controversy and unanswered questions.

The issue dates back to 1996, when the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with US company Trans-Global to explore for oil in the Dead Sea area….

Over the next few years, the firm dug four wells at Isaal and Wadi Mujib, some thousands of metres deep, in hope that the rift valley would yield any positive results.

According to the company, logging data and technical studies of the wells revealed huge oil traps of hydrocarbons with significant commercial potential and large oil pays, the solid technical indicators of a major oil discovery.

On August 15, 2005, as per the PSA, the company said it officially informed the NRA of its discovery, but the authority declined to review the studies, according to Trans-Global, which felt there was little interest on the part of the NRA administration to follow through.

“This is the exact opposite of how any petroleum ministry in the world would respond to the discovery of oil,” Trans-Global General Manager Nazeeh Abraham told The Jordan Times.

“We claimed a significant oil discovery, and instead of developing it they denied it. We then faced obstructions every step on the way, preventing us from starting a large accelerated drilling development programme,” he added.

Frustrated with the lack of interest from the authority, Trans-Global announced the discovery during the 9th International Geological Conference of the Jordanian Geologists Association in Amman in April last year.

The announcement created an uproar and came as a shock to the NRA.

“They went public without ever informing us, which is a breach of the PSA. We were only told of a technical discovery, which doesn’t mean much in the oil business,” NRA Director Maher Hijazin told The Jordan Times.

“We have all the documents to prove that there is no discovery,” he stressed.

Industry experts

Although the announcement was shocking to many, it came as no surprise to Jordanian Geologists Association (JGA) President Khaled Shawabkeh.

He claimed that the NRA drilled at least five wells in the area in the 1990s, and found oil in different quantities, although their commercial viability was not verified.

Lack of support and technical difficulties brought on by the area’s topography prevented the authority from any further exploration, and the subject was shelved, he said.

“In my view, Trans-Global has made an oil discovery. The quantity and commercial quality of this discovery should now be explored,” the JGA president stressed.

Weatherford, Reeves Logging Ltd., one of 14 third-party companies that performed assessment studies for Trans-Global on the Isaal and Wadi Mujib wells, said it could not confirm or deny the existence of oil in the area, as their only purpose was to log data, not analyse it.

Another industry source, however, told The Jordan Times that the independent third-party studies pointed to “a strong possibility” of commercially viable oil in the Dead Sea area.

You can read the full article by clicking here

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