“There is desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swalloweth it up.” (Proverbs 21:20)
Zion Oil and Gas announced Wednesday that it has been awarded a new, 99,000 acre exploration license by the State of Israel’s Petroleum Commissioner. The Megiddo-Jezreel License, awarded on December 3, covers an area of approximately 400,000 dunam (400 square kilometers or 98,842 acres) of onshore land south and west of Zion’s existing Jordan Valley License, and is valid until 2016. At that point, it may be further extended for additional one-year periods up to a maximum of seven years as provided by the Israeli Petroleum Law.
John Brown, Zion’s CEO, said, “This is a key milestone in Zion’s future exploration success. We are committed to stay the course and fulfill Zion’s vision to render assistance to the Jewish people and Nation of Israel and to aid them in the Restoration of the Land by providing the oil and gas necessary to help the People of Israel maintain their political and economic independence.”
Under the terms of the Megiddo-Jezreel License, Zion Oil and Gas will identify and submit a drilling prospect in the license area by July 1, 2015; enter into a contract for drilling the area by October 1, 2015; and begin the actual drilling by December 1, 2015. The minimum proposed depth for this well would be approximately 4,000 meters (~ 13,125 feet).
In addition to these commitments, Zion would need to reach various geological and geophysical milestones during the first three years. These would include reprocessing and acquiring additional seismic data, something that should be achievable during that time.
Victor G. Carrillo, Zion’s President and Chief Operating Officer, said, “Being awarded the 98,842 acre Megiddo-Jezreel Valley License is a critically important step for Zion’s future exploration efforts. We have many prerequisite steps before we can drill our next deep exploratory well but we plan to get to that point as expeditiously as possible.This new area appears to have all of the geologic ingredients of an active petroleum system with good potential.”
Zion is a public company. Zion’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol ZN. Zion Oil & Gas, a Delaware corporation, explores for oil and gas onshore in Israel.
It currently holds three petroleum exploration licenses: the Asher-Menashe License (on approximately 79,000 acres), the Jordan Valley License (on approximately 56,000 acres), and the newly granted Megiddo-Jezreel License (on approximately 99,000 acres).
