Post by Ethan / JRyan on Feb 12, 2019 18:17:32 GMT -5
Yeah its an old article but I will bold what is interesting nonetheless...
Oct 11, 2015 1:51 PM
U.S. company says it found ‘significant’ qualities of oil and gas at Ness license.
Oct 11, 2015 1:51 PM
U.S. company says it found ‘significant’ qualities of oil and gas at Ness license.
Genie Energy, an American company that is drilling for gas on the Golan Heights, said yesterday it had found “significant quantities of oil and gas,” confirming remarks made by its chief geologist two days earlier.
“Preliminary evidence from the exploratory wells drilled by its Afek subsidiary in Northern Israel confirms the existence of significant quantities of oil and gas within its exploratory license area,” Genie said in a statement, but added that it does not yet have sufficient evidence to determine whether this or any part of the resource can be “technically or economically produced.”
Shares of Genie, which said the petroleum was found in multiple strata in some cases up to 350 meters thick, shot up 19.9% to $11.28 in New York on the news.
The details were in line with what Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Genie’s Israeli subsidiary, Afek Oil & Gas, told Israel Channel 2 television news on Tuesday, when he indicated the find could be quite substantial. “On average worldwide strata are 20-30 meters thick, and this is 10 times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities,” he said.
“We remain optimistic given the results to date,” said Howard Jonas, the Jewish-American millionaire who is Genie’s CEO and chairman. “In term of quantity, our log results indicate that this could be a significant find if analogous conditions are present over a significant portion of the license area.”
Afek has completed drilling two exploratory wells within the license area and has begun drilling a third, with seven more to go. The find apparently came from Ness 5, the first of the drillings.
Afek won a license two years ago to explore for gas and oil in the southern Golan Heights in an area designated “Ness.”
The company, with paid-up capital of $75 million, drew up a detailed drilling program, hired geologists as well as Efi Eitam, the reserve general, rightist politician and former national infrastructure minster as chairman. Apart from Jonas, Genie’s shareholders include the media magnate Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild.
Unlike other tiny energy firms operating in Israel, like Givot Olam and Shemen, Afek isn’t publicly traded. Bartov’s remarks elicited skepticism because Genie, which does trade in New York and is required to make current disclosures to investors, issued on confirmation for two days.
In any case, energy experts said they remain skeptical about Afek’s commercial prospects.
“There’s a significant difference between ‘a barrel on paper’ and a barrel you can extract,” said one who spoke on condition of anonymity and recalled the case of Givot Olam’s early reports on findings at a drilling near the central Israeli town of Rosh Ha’ayi
“Givot Olam started talking in terms of quantity of oil and later switched to them about barrels that can actually be extracted. In the end, Givot spoke in its financial reports ... it was clear that it would extract from all its oil reserves just 3%-4%,” the source said, adding: “I would tell investors in Israel or New York to treat this cautiously and with suspicion.”
Another industry source noted that preliminary reports talked about the ability to extract 30% of the oil in the reservoir. “But it would be a lot lower,” he said. “We still don’t know the cost of extracting the oil, which is critical given the decline in the [global] price of oil.”
Oil exploration is likely to encounter legal problems as the Golan is regarded as occupied Syrian territory. But Eitam told TheMarker last month that he wasn’t concerned.
“We are operating through the power of attorney of the state, which has had control of the Golan for more than 40 years,” said Eitam. “Syria right now is at war.”
So the issue is the same, the oil is there but in what form? How can it be extracted and with oil at $50, is it worth it?
Givot lead the way and actually extracted 700K barrels or more over time. The issue which I can find no real information is just how they did it.
Fracking - it is real and the oil is there but will fracking be allowed? The short answer is no, Israel has its own environmental lobby so the likelihood is small. That technology will have to be perfected here in the states first.
Still, is fracking viable?
I will use the following for Exhibit #1:
Real Implications Of The New Permian Estimates 12/14/18
So one must ask the question, so I will. With estimates in the 10's of billions of barrels on the Golan, what is feasible to recover?
How does this relate to Zion Oil? In my opinion, this is what they found and struggle with figuring out how to get it. That same issue occurred in the Bakken as well as the Permian at some point. It is a joke no longer as the US basically doubled their PROVEN oil reserves with that one update by the USGS.
Givot did frack but not in the same exact way as what is being done in the Permian. That technology is changing very quickly and getting better every year. They are even re-fracking the same well and getting more production than the first go around.
So what if Zion owns the license but can not get the oil out of the ground both economically and environmentally? That is what I think is going on. I think they had thought they would hit a sweet spot that would flow naturally and they did not. I think that is the driver to get the 3D done to zoom in on the missed sweet spot. Is that spot there? I think the odds are small that it is, a naturally flowing well is something that Givot tried as well. Zion is running out of time but I think they did find some reserves, but they are not at this given point economical and therefore the issue is a serious one for the health of a company in which I own a part.
Still - losing it all I will be happy in that they did find oil and Israel has some. If it were to shoot to $100-$200 a barrel then all bets are off and you will see many things happen quickly. There is a reason that the House of Saud wanted US Frackers to go under. American ingenuity and technology has gotten the price down to around $35 (fracking) with installed infrastructure in place. That would mean that in Israel that cost would be north of $60 and would not be profitable for now.
“Preliminary evidence from the exploratory wells drilled by its Afek subsidiary in Northern Israel confirms the existence of significant quantities of oil and gas within its exploratory license area,” Genie said in a statement, but added that it does not yet have sufficient evidence to determine whether this or any part of the resource can be “technically or economically produced.”
Shares of Genie, which said the petroleum was found in multiple strata in some cases up to 350 meters thick, shot up 19.9% to $11.28 in New York on the news.
The details were in line with what Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Genie’s Israeli subsidiary, Afek Oil & Gas, told Israel Channel 2 television news on Tuesday, when he indicated the find could be quite substantial. “On average worldwide strata are 20-30 meters thick, and this is 10 times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities,” he said.
“We remain optimistic given the results to date,” said Howard Jonas, the Jewish-American millionaire who is Genie’s CEO and chairman. “In term of quantity, our log results indicate that this could be a significant find if analogous conditions are present over a significant portion of the license area.”
Afek has completed drilling two exploratory wells within the license area and has begun drilling a third, with seven more to go. The find apparently came from Ness 5, the first of the drillings.
Afek won a license two years ago to explore for gas and oil in the southern Golan Heights in an area designated “Ness.”
The company, with paid-up capital of $75 million, drew up a detailed drilling program, hired geologists as well as Efi Eitam, the reserve general, rightist politician and former national infrastructure minster as chairman. Apart from Jonas, Genie’s shareholders include the media magnate Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild.
Unlike other tiny energy firms operating in Israel, like Givot Olam and Shemen, Afek isn’t publicly traded. Bartov’s remarks elicited skepticism because Genie, which does trade in New York and is required to make current disclosures to investors, issued on confirmation for two days.
In any case, energy experts said they remain skeptical about Afek’s commercial prospects.
“There’s a significant difference between ‘a barrel on paper’ and a barrel you can extract,” said one who spoke on condition of anonymity and recalled the case of Givot Olam’s early reports on findings at a drilling near the central Israeli town of Rosh Ha’ayi
“Givot Olam started talking in terms of quantity of oil and later switched to them about barrels that can actually be extracted. In the end, Givot spoke in its financial reports ... it was clear that it would extract from all its oil reserves just 3%-4%,” the source said, adding: “I would tell investors in Israel or New York to treat this cautiously and with suspicion.”
Another industry source noted that preliminary reports talked about the ability to extract 30% of the oil in the reservoir. “But it would be a lot lower,” he said. “We still don’t know the cost of extracting the oil, which is critical given the decline in the [global] price of oil.”
Oil exploration is likely to encounter legal problems as the Golan is regarded as occupied Syrian territory. But Eitam told TheMarker last month that he wasn’t concerned.
“We are operating through the power of attorney of the state, which has had control of the Golan for more than 40 years,” said Eitam. “Syria right now is at war.”
So the issue is the same, the oil is there but in what form? How can it be extracted and with oil at $50, is it worth it?
Givot lead the way and actually extracted 700K barrels or more over time. The issue which I can find no real information is just how they did it.
Fracking - it is real and the oil is there but will fracking be allowed? The short answer is no, Israel has its own environmental lobby so the likelihood is small. That technology will have to be perfected here in the states first.
Still, is fracking viable?
I will use the following for Exhibit #1:
Real Implications Of The New Permian Estimates 12/14/18
So one must ask the question, so I will. With estimates in the 10's of billions of barrels on the Golan, what is feasible to recover?
How does this relate to Zion Oil? In my opinion, this is what they found and struggle with figuring out how to get it. That same issue occurred in the Bakken as well as the Permian at some point. It is a joke no longer as the US basically doubled their PROVEN oil reserves with that one update by the USGS.
Givot did frack but not in the same exact way as what is being done in the Permian. That technology is changing very quickly and getting better every year. They are even re-fracking the same well and getting more production than the first go around.
So what if Zion owns the license but can not get the oil out of the ground both economically and environmentally? That is what I think is going on. I think they had thought they would hit a sweet spot that would flow naturally and they did not. I think that is the driver to get the 3D done to zoom in on the missed sweet spot. Is that spot there? I think the odds are small that it is, a naturally flowing well is something that Givot tried as well. Zion is running out of time but I think they did find some reserves, but they are not at this given point economical and therefore the issue is a serious one for the health of a company in which I own a part.
Still - losing it all I will be happy in that they did find oil and Israel has some. If it were to shoot to $100-$200 a barrel then all bets are off and you will see many things happen quickly. There is a reason that the House of Saud wanted US Frackers to go under. American ingenuity and technology has gotten the price down to around $35 (fracking) with installed infrastructure in place. That would mean that in Israel that cost would be north of $60 and would not be profitable for now.
