Israel Oil Discoveries

Did Moses Take the Wrong Road?

There is an old joke to the effect that Moses took the wrong turn from Egypt, leading Israel to sand, and leaving oil for the Arabs. It is interesting, in a sense, that the same geology that yields so much oil in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, seems to yield none in Israel.

That is, up until now. Recent discoveries of oil and gas, both in Israel and off her coast, have made that old joke obsolete.
Up until recently Israel has always had to import her oil and gas, relying on hostile neighbors and ever more vulnerable pipelines. (The pipeline between Egypt and Israel has been blown up too many times to remember.) It now appears that reliance on imported gas and oil will no longer be necessary. Large-scale natural gas and oil discoveries by Israel have been occurring with surprising frequency in recent years. Here are a few of the recent discoveries:

January 2009: Headlines reported that the Delek fuel company had discovered a huge deposit of natural gas west of Haifa that could change the face of Israel’s economy.

Dec 2009: An Israeli company found oil beneath Rosh Ha’ayin. Gas was found, as well.

Dec 2010: Exploratory drilling off Israel’s northern coast confirmed the existence of a major natural gas field—one of the world’s largest offshore gas finds of the past decade. This led Israel’s infrastructure minister to call it “the most important energy news since the founding of the state.”

Aug 2010: The Leviathan Oil Field was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel’s coast. This is one of the largest oil finds in recent years.

March 2011: Oil shale was discovered to be abundant in Israel. According to Dr. Harold Vinegar, former chief scientist of Royal Dutch Shell, these are the second-largest oil shale deposits in the world, outside the U.S. "We estimate that there is the equivalent of 250 billion barrels of oil here,” he said. “To put that in context, there are proven reserves of 260 billion barrels of oil in Saudi Arabia."

Feb 2012: Noble Energy and the Delek Group announced another significant discovery of a natural gas field off the coast of Haifa. The field, located in the Mediterranean waters 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) northwest of Israel's northern port city, reportedly totals about 1.2 to 1.3 trillion cubic feet.

Now, on June 3, 2012, an Israeli company has announced the discovery of another sizable offshore oil and gas field. Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP estimated the newest field at about 1.4 billion barrels of oil and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Oil and gas rigs are springing up in various places in the eastern Mediterranean.

These discoveries guarantee Israel's energy future for decades, and makes it possible to export gas, and boost the state's revenues without worrying about gas reserves for domestic consumption. In general, the discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean in recent years are estimated to be the largest in the world, and could drastically alter Israel's economic and energy situation. (Israel Today and The-End-Time Blogspot.)

It appears that God has abundantly blessed Israel in these turbulent days with sources of energy they are going to need in the coming days.

However, these discoveries have attracted the attention of Israel's enemies, so please pray that they will not be the cause of further attacks on Israel.

“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, (olive) oil and honey…” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8).

Reporting for CFI Jerusalem,
Lonnie C. Mings

Israel News Weekly Report – INDWeekly – June 11-15, 2012

Let us pray that these discoveries do not cause further attacks on Israel.