05.07.2009
Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. was founded by an American Christian evangelist John Brown in April 2000 for the purpose of exploring for oil and gas in Israel and reaching production levels that would help Israel become an energy independent country. Texan John Brown says he is on a divine mission to find oil in the land of milk and honey. Brown, who calls himself Zionist Christian, is convinced that oil-dependent Israel is sitting on vast reserves of crude and that their location is mapped out in the Bible. He is convinced that key clues are contained in a Biblical passage that calls for blessings upon the head of Joseph, and a map of the 12 Biblical tribes of Israel that shows what he says looks like the outline of a head. The company’s founding was the culmination of a 14 year process of laying the groundwork for an oil company that began during Brown’s inspirational visit to Israel in 1985. Zion currently (2009) holds two Petroleum Exploration Licenses – the Asher-Menashe License along the Israeli coastal plain and on the Mt. Carmel range, between Caesarea and Haifa and the Joseph License located along the Israel coastal plain between Netanya on the south to the southern border of the Asher-Menashe License. (13th Nov) Zion Oil & Gas Inc. (100% operator) was drilling ahead the Elijah 3 exploration well in the Asher-Menashe (334) licence area below 1,057m. The well was spudded on 18 October 2009 with a PTD of 5,182m in the Permian and is expected to encounter the Triassic at approximately 3,048m. The well site, which was selected using a recently completed geophysical survey of the licence, is located approximately 4 km south-east of the Asher-Atlit 1 wildcat. Asher-Atlit 1 was drilled to a TD of 6,531m in August 1983 before being plugged and abandoned with oil shows.
A $2.8 billion financing package to develop a two-train LNG plant with a guaranteed capacity of 6.7 million tons per year, plus associated pipelines, port and storage facilities. The scheme in Balhaf will be one of the largest in the world – not far behind the 7.8 million ton per year capacity of the latest generation of liquefaction plants in Qatar. The project’s total costs are estimated at $4 billion
Company that was established by the partners in the Yam Tethys project to receive a transmission license from the Mari production platform located offshore Ashkelon via a pipeline directly to Ashdod. Yam Tethys laid a 42 km pipeline from the production platform to the receiving terminal in Ashdod with the work completed at the end of 2003, with a capacity for up to 6 bcm per annum.
Partners in the company include Noble Energy (47.058%), Delek Drilling 25.5%), Avner (23%) and Delek Investment (4.441%). Yam Tethys has two proven reserves, the Noa reserve and the Mari reserve.
The total Yam Tethys contracts include: a contract signed with IEC in June 2002 for 18 bcm of gas which started to flow in February 2004 at $2.47 mmbtu; a contract with Oil Refineries signed in September 2004 with supplies started to flow in November 2005 for 1.3 bcm at $2.50 mmbtu; a contract signed in July 2005 with the Hader Paper Plant for 0.43 bcm of gas which started to flow in August 2007 at $2.50 mmbtu; a contract with the Delek IPP in Ashkelon signed in August 2005 and with supplies that started to flow in August 2007 to supply 1.8 bcm at $2.4 mmbtu; a spot contract signed in August 2006 with IEC at a price of above $5 mmbtu; a contract signed in March 2008 with IC which started to flow in October 2009 to supply a total of 2 bcm at $3.50 – $4.50 (oil linked price with floor & ceiling) and a contract signed on 23 July 2009 with IEC to supply 5 bcm of gas over 5 years at the flat price of $1 billion leading to a price of $5.45 mmbtu.
On 24th December, IEC signed a LOI with the Yam Tethys partners (Mari and Noa partners) according to which the parties would carry out negotiations. As part of a separate LOI, IEC expects to purchase natural gas from the Company and its partners to establish a strategic inventory reserve at Mari-B. The Mari-B partners would provide IEC with injection, storage and withdrawal capabilities for this inventory under a related service. On 24th December another LOI was signed between the partners in the Yam Tethys project and those in the Tamar project, according to which the strategic reserves of gas would be provided by the Tamar project, subordinate to the partners in both projects agreeing. The LOIs are not yet binding. IEC board of directors has ordered for the negotiations to conclude with a binding GSA within up to 6 months.
In March 2010, Yam Tethys stated that they are revising upward the estimated volume of gas at the Mary B drilling site. The new estimate is 7.5% higher than earlier estimates. Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc., a Texas-based independent petroleum consultant, increased its estimate of the quantity of natural gas in the well by 1.89 billion cubic meters (66.7 billion cubic feet) to 27.52 billion cubic meters. The amount is about 1.9 billion cubic meters, valued at an estimated $340 million. The estimated value was based on the average price for the gas at Mary B in existing deals, namely $5 per million BTUs. NSAI estimates that the proved updated reserves of natural gas on the 31/12/09 are about 13.38 bcm and proved and probable of about 14 bcm.
OPEC’s World Oil Outlook (WOO) says that the low oil prices of the 1980s and 1990s have had a dramatic impact on the oil industry because such low prices discouraged investment. As a result, at the beginning of this century, the world was caught unprepared for the surge in demand when faced with above-trend global economic growth. OPEC assumes annual growth of 1.7% amounting to a 50% rise in worldwide energy demand during 2006-30. This is based on world economic growth averaging 3.5% year and assuming no significant changes in policies and technologies.
A slender, rodlike or threadlike piece of metal usually small in diameter, that is used for lowering special tools (such as logging tools, perforating guns, and so forth) into the well.
A one off tax imposed by the UK government in 1997 on the profits of privatized utilities companies. It was applied to fund the government’s Welfare to Work program. The profits were assessed as the difference between a company’s privatized sale price and its average value over the subsequent four years. The tax was levied on a number of companies including BAA, BG, British Telecom, British Energy, Centrica, National Power, PowerGen, the regional electricity companies and the water and sewage companies
Most wind turbines have appearances similar to airplane propellers or windmills. Newer, more efficient models may use a design more similar to a modified sail, turbine fan or pinwheel. The harvesting of wind energy for commercial sale is referred to as wind farming. Wind speeds as low as 5 mph can effectively drive a well-constructed wind turbine, but in most locales usable energy can only be produced about 30 percent of the time.
On 8th September 2009, the PUA published the principles, regulations and tariffs for the generation of electricity from small wind turbines. Consumers will be able to generate their own electricity for self usage and sell the surplus to the national grid. The maximum output of a domestic wind turbine (household rate) will be 15 kilowatts, and the maximum output of a general customer’s wind turbine (commercial and industrial rate) will be 50 kilowatts. The total quota allowed to receive the rates will be 30 megawatts through 2016.
• The PUA and MNI are once again on track promoting household solar energy system with the PUA abolishing the 50 MW cap for small facilities of up to 15 KW. A new lower tariff however has been set at 1.67 NIS per KWH compared to the previous accepted tariff of 2.04 NS. In addition more industrial photovoltaic solar systems of up to 50 KW can be constructed up to a cap of 120 MW with the tariff being set at 1.51 NIS per KWH decreasing at 7% per annum as of 1.9.2011. The new policy will be implemented as of September 1st 2010.
Electric energy generated through the harnessing of wind. Harnessing the wind is highly dependent upon weather and location. Indeed, wind turbines generate electricity very irregularly, because the wind itself is inconsistent. Therefore wind turbine always need backup power from fossil fuels to keep the electricity grid in balance. Natural gas turbines are probably the best way to do this as they are able to start up quickly, as opposed to coal-fired plants which need to be maintained in a very inefficient standby mode if they are to respond to large fluctuations in power demand, when wind generators stop suddenly. Wind power is thus clearly not reducing the dependence on imported fuels such as natural gas and may even enhance the use of natural gas. The average wind velocity of Earth is around 9 m/sec. The power that could be produced when a wind mill is facing the wind of 16 km/hr is around 50 watts. Germany (installed wind capacity of 21,400 MW in 2007) and Spain (installed capacity of 14,700 MW) are Europe’s leading producers of wind power. One of the main problems with wind power is the space it requires for setting up wind farms. Another problem is the intermittency of wind and its destabilizing effect on the grid that requires stable transmission of energy so that wind power complicates power system balancing >