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.

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.

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.