What is unique now is that the scientists behind Zion Oil have come to the conclusion, through extensive research, that there might be a large commercial oil reserve 14,000 feet (4200 meters) under Israel proper with estimated reserves of 330 million to 2 billion barrels. At the current rate of consumption, this would satisfy aggregate oil demand for the entire country for 3.5 years at a minimum, to 20 years maximum. This is quite a substantial improvement over what the country has now. As most large energy financial concerns are heavily entrenched in other areas of the Middle East, Zion Oil found outside investors with similar cultural interest in Israel; which probably means that their money comes from religious causes, both Christian and Jewish (yes, religious causes invest their money, so don’t be fooled by the .org).Blessed with financial backing and science, the Israeli government has granted Zion Oil drilling rights for the next 30 years over 200 square kilometers in the area around Pardes Hana – Karkur, from the Green line to the sea. The site, Meged, is the first with true commercial potential on the international arena, and would easily be connected to the two large scale refineries, in Haifa and Ashdod.
Now, is it in Israel's interest to find oil? Sure. Do they have anything practical to lose from letting the Zion Oil winguts drill there? No. But this is just another step in a long history of the Israelis basically letting evangelical Christians ride roughshod over them in the name of a condescending faux-ecumenicalism and in exchange for big bucks (or in this case, moderate-sized bucks and the potential for major bucks).
Why does Israel continue to be for sale? Who in the government actually told the Finance Ministry or the Mining Ministry or whoever, "yeah, go meet with the guys who want to drill on Joseph's Head"?? And what's this "extensive research" line? I thought all the research from this came from John Brown skimming Deuteronomy and not knowing Hebrew.
For the curious, incidentally, it's now been three years, going on four, since Zion Oil was incorportated. They claimed back in April that they had "totally" found oil (or possibly kerosene), but it still seems to be coming along very slowly- i.e., not really at all. This quote was nice:
"There is a number (quantifying how much oil the company thinks it will find), and when I see that number, I want to tell it to the world," John M. Brown told UPI.Hmm, I guess that means they still haven't found any.
In a 2004 article in the Oil & Gas Journal, geologist Stephen Pierce wrote about the prospects for Zion's license, concluding: "Zion has a strong probability of making a significant discovery of some 484 million barrels of oil."
Israel depends on fossil fuels for much of its energy needs. It imports all of its oil and in 2003 bought 270,000 barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.
At the time of his assessment, Pierce was not affiliated with the company, and the assessment was his own. Since then, Pierce, also an evangelical Christian, has served as a consulting geologist for Zion.
In light of predictions like that, Brown expressed disappointment at the lack of black geysers.
"I expected the oil to be flowing -- thousands of barrels of it ... while I understand what (Perry) and the scientists are saying, it's still not flowing," Brown said.
"Success is when oil's flowing out and helping Israel, and anything less is unacceptable," Brown said.
Ah, schadenfreude. Tastes so good it must be fattening.
P.S. This annoyed me:
He consulted pastors and rabbis to check his interpretation of the text, and geologists and industry experts to check the science.
A friend who reads Hebrew told me that olive oil and petroleum are two distinctly different words. Can anyone in the Jblogosphere with access to Deut. check this? Are these rabbis full of it?
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