Zion Oil & Gas commences drilling Megiddo-Jezreel #1 onshore well in Israel

Zion Oil & Gas has commenced drilling operations at the deep, onshore well, Megiddo-Jezreel #1, located in Israel’s Jezreel Valley.

Dafora’s F-400 drilling rig has a 3,000HP capacity drawworks capable of drilling to more than 7,000m, and has been employed to drill the well.

Horsepower and safety factor provided by the rig is reported to be enough to drill the planned well, with a target depth of up to 4,500m.

In addition, the company is contracting with service providers such as Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Weatherford.

Zion Oil & Gas president and chief operating officer Dustin Guinn said: “The process to finally be able to start drilling has been met with obstacles and patience-testing trials, but we believe we have assembled a team that is very hard working and committed.

“We are extremely proud of the work that has been done and look forward to a successful well.”

Zion intends to drill multiple wells from the site, contingent on the results of the planned exploratory well and subject to adequate cash resources.

The company noted that several subsurface geologic targets can be reached using directional trajectories for subsequent wells.

According to a study conducted by consulting company Beicip-Franlab in 2015, the offshore portion of Israel’s Levant Basin contains potential unexplored reserves up to 6.6 billion barrels of oil.

Zion’s onshore Megiddo-Jezreel License area is entirely within the Levant Basin and expected to encounter the key geologic ingredients of an active petroleum system.

Headquartered in the US, the company has oil and gas onshore operations in Israel.