Posted on 10/04/2006 11:10:33 AM PDT by ScaniaBoy
Oil has been discovered in the Dead Sea area, Dr. Eli Tenenbaum, an official from Genco, the national company responsible for drilling in the region, reported on Wednesday. Tenenbaum stated that the amount of oil could reach commercial levels.
"We noticed that the pressure in the area was very high and when we opened the tap, oil started flowing freely for several minutes," Tenenbaum told Channel 10.
Tenenbaum said that the workers washed their hands with the "black gold" when they made the discovery. "We hope it was the first of many [such discoveries]," he added excitedly.
Not far from the drilling site, the crew spotted an oil reserve that Tenenbaum described as "very attractive," which they believed contained between four and six million barrels, worth an estimated 300 million dollars.
The operation began 10 years ago but was put on hold since it was not deemed economically viable. However, due to the recent soaring oil prices the discovery of new oil sources became necessary.
Genco was drilling at a depth of 2000 meters.
Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said it was "just the beginning" and that is was vital to find out whether the oil field was commercially viable or not.
"It is an encouraging sign," he said. "We are checking the entire area and we are opening the whole region for drilling. We will give our full support to any company that wants to try."
More things to be thankful for at Sukkot!
GOD to ISRAEL : I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. Why is the US so blessed as a country? Sole remaining superpower, olympic medals aplenty, a "world" country in fact(home to all ethnic peoples): we have stood by israel since its inception. The old USSR had fences with tops bent inward, to keep their people IN; GWB just took a leaf from israel today and signed the fence bill, to keep people OUT. I must be part jewish, private note to follow.
FYI
WASHINGTON — Israel is greeting news of an oil discovery with a simple message to prospectors: The Dead Sea is open for business.[excerpt]That was the reaction this week from the Jewish state's infrastructure minister upon hearing the news that the Israeli company Ginko had struck black gold. "It is an encouraging sign," Benyamin Ben-Eliezer told the Jerusalem Post. "We are checking the entire area and we are opening the whole region for drilling. We will give our full support to any company that wants to try."
Compared with the oil fields of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, the discovery near the Dead Sea is quite small. But it marks a significant deposit of oil and natural gas for Israel, which has been lured in the past by the potential of oil deposits off the coast of Gaza and elsewhere, only to find relatively dry hole
NY Sun says name of the oil company is Ginko
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