Further discovery of offshore oil and gas by Israel

Israel has announced a further major discovery of oil and gas. The announcement by Israel Energy Resources LP on 3rd June 2012 relates to the Pelagic licences, making this the third largest offshore discovery to date.

Ryder Scott Company LP estimate that the Pelagic licenses have unrisked resources of 6.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas composed of 0.5 TCF of contingent resources and 6.2 TCF of prospective resources. The estimated cost of an exploratory well is $100 million.

Ryder Scott estimates the geologic probability of success at 28.5% in the Yoad prospect, ranging up to 76.7% in the Aphrodite prospect (which potentially has 3.7 TCF of natural gas). Ryder Scott also estimates that the deeper strata at Pelagic might contain 1.4 billion barrels of oil or a further 13.5 TCF of natural gas. The probability of success of recovering oil or gas from the deeper strata ranges from 5.3% to 12.3%.

There are five deep-water Pelagic licenses – Aditya, Ishai, Lela, Yahav, and Yoad – covering two million dunam (500,000 acres) 170 west of Haifa, between Leviathan’s Ratio Yam and Block 12, which includes the Aphrodite structure, in Cypriot waters. Israel Opportunity owns 10% of the licenses, Beny Steinmetz and Teddy Sagi each own 42.5%, and Norway’s AGR Group Inc. owns 5%.√جª¬ø

For the sake of comparison, the earlier finds of Tamar and Leviathon have estimates of 9 and 17 Trillion Cubic Feet.

Israel Opportunity chairman Ronny Halman says that the report’s estimates are better than the estimates that the company had when it decided to acquire the Pelagic licenses. “The quantity of gas discovered in the licenses, and the high probabilities, make it the third largest offshore discovery to date. This quantity guarantees Israel’s energy future for decades, and makes it possible to export Israeli gas, and boost the state’s revenues without worrying about gas reserves for domestic consumption.”√جª¬ø

Another company, Israel Energy Initiatives, has made a further announcement in respect of shale oil discoveries.  Chief Executive Harold Vinegar recently told CBN news that the latest estimate is of 250 billion barrels of oil.

Originally posted 2012-08-29 00:00:00.