Drilling Operations on the Elijah #3 Well

Zion’s Asher-Menashe license area is along the Israeli coastal plain and on the Mount Carmel range, between Caesarea and Haifa. The Elijah #3 well site is situated approximately 12 miles north of Caesarea, just off Road 4.

The name Mount Carmel (in Hebrew ‘Har HaCarmel’) means literally ‘the mountain of the vineyards of G-d’. Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses in the area.

The prophet Elijah lived in a cave on Mount Carmel and in 1 Kings 18, you can read how Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Ba’al to a contest on Mount Carmel, to demonstrate that G-d is in control of the Kingdom of Israel.

For the reason above, our first well on our Asher-Menashe license area was given the name ‘Elijah’.

On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, we issued a press release (click here to read the press release) announcing that:

‘Utilizing the 2,000 horsepower drilling rig used to drill Zion’s Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2 well, Zion has commenced drilling its Elijah #3 well toward the Triassic geological formation, which is expected below approximately 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). Zion then plans to continue drilling to the Permian geological formation, down to a total depth below 17,000 feet (5,182 meters).’

On the same day that we issued the press release, I visited the Elijah #3 drill site. Here are some of the photographs that I took.

The access road to the front gate of the Elijah #3 drill site is through a banana field.

Zion’s CEO (that is ‘me’) standing in front of the drilling rig.

A view, photographed from the rig floor, towards the front gate of the site. Note the drill pipe in the foreground and the casing in front of the gate. In the background you can see the banana fields and hills of the Carmel region.

A view towards the back of the site. Note the reserve pit on the far right and the mud tanks (in yellow and gray). In the background you can see more banana fields and hills of the Carmel region.

I asked one of the crew ‘How’s it going?’ His reply was a ‘thumbs up’.

A view from a position directly in front of the rig.

A view, to the left side, from the same position in front of the rig.

Today, Friday, October 23, 2009 we have drilled to a depth of approximately 400 feet (122 meters) and are making good progress.

The Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2 Well

This past week we have been considering different rigs that are suitable for completion operations on the Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2 well, so that we can test the seven zones that warrant completion testing. We have been in discussions with two separate rig owners who each own rigs that are currently in Israel.

Four of the zones are in the upper (Triassic) part of the hole and were seen in the Ma’anit #1 well and three of the zones are in the deeper hole drilled in the Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2 well.

We want to start the completion operations as soon as possible and are trying to contract for a suitable completion rig to do just that.