Potentially game-changing oil reserves discovered in Israel

Fox News.com ^ | October 7, 2015 | Paul Alster

[Kaslin]

Haifa, Israel – After Israel complained for years that it was surrounded by oil-rich states but didn’t have a drop within its own borders, it appears there’s a big-time turnaround with the announcement Wednesday that massive oil reserves have been located in the Golan Heights,close to the country’s border with Syria.

Afek Oil and Gas, an Israeli subsidiary of the U.S. company Genie Energy, confirmed the find in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 TVbut conceded that until the oil is actually extracted, they won’t be sure of the actual amounts and quality of the oil that has been discovered.

“We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity,” the company’s chief geologist, Yuval Bartov, explained. “On average in the world, strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is ten times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities. The important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that's what we now know.”

[Ben Ficklin]

This is not a new discovery, they have known about this for years.

It is not technically feasible or economically reasonable.

Oil shale kerogen where it outcrops can be mined and then be retorted into oil. This in Israel is underground has to be retorted insitu

[thackney]

what’s involved with extracting and what kind of time and money are we talkin’ here ?

They don't know that much yet. I read these type of announcements as just a way to bump up the stock price.

[thackney]

t’s not actually oil, its kerogen. It is the same as the kerogen found in the Green River formation in Utah and Colorado. It has to be cooked out of the ground.

Afek company info states differently. From their Q&A section:

Q: Are you planning to produce oil from shale?

A: Definitely not! The company is operating solely to prospect for liquid oil on the Golan Heights by conventional means. The license granted to the company by the State of Israel gives the company the right to look only for conventional oil. Also the permit (lease) gives the company the right to drill only for conventional oil.

http://afekoil.co.il/en/

[thackney]

The metrics presented here don’t tell me much. Does anyone have an estimate in barrels of oil.

That info, if known, hasn't been released as far as I've found.

[central_va]

Kosher Oil bump.

[thackney]

Good luck keeping a refinery from blowing up over there.

Israel has had refineries in Haifa and Ashdod for many decades already.

[sitetest]

Thanks.

[NFHale]

Oyl Vey!!!!

[DoughtyOne]

= :^)

[Ben Ficklin]

What you say is true but that is more recent. When they started, including in the Green River and Mongolia, it was only about kerogen. It is safe to assume that they can produce some tight oil, but not what they are alluding to.

This is really about raising money from investors. Murdoch has no more to give.

[thackney]

When they really first started, they were drilling for water.