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PUPPING WELL.-- lig

°MMHG Witt

The Israel oil fields shown
here are operated by Israel
Oil Prospectors Corp., Ltd.,
and Lapidoth Israel Petrol-
eum Co., Ltd. In addition to
developing successful fields at
Heletz and Brur (1), the com-
panies are also exploring for
oil in the Ashkelon region (2),
Beeri (3), Sdom (6) and Znif-
fim (7). According to geologi-
cal evidence, there is great
hope of bringing in two wild-
cats being drilled at Sdom,
one of which is more than
9,000 feet deep. Later this
year, the companies will in-
vestigate oil possibilities at
Qaren (4 and Zetra (5).

TATO.

The production of oil in Is-
rael has grown in less than two
years from a tiny trickle from
one well to a respectable 1,600
barrels per day from the Heletz
and Brur Fields, 30 miles south
of Tel Aviv, adjoining the Gaza
Strip.
The reason for widespread in-
terest in "home-grown" oil is
apparent. Arab nations have
'boycotted Israel—not only for
oil purchases but for everything
else. The Soviet Union, as a con-
sequence of the Sinai campaign,
cancelled a contract to supply
Israel with one-fifth of her
crude needs.
Israel, therefore, can buy oil
only in the world market, from
Venezuela and from U. S. gulf
ports. This oil has to be paid for
in hard currency, a commodity
which is in extremely short
supply. Lately, small quantities
of oil have come to Israel from
Iran, on chartered tankers,
through the Gulf of Aqaba to
Elath, where it has been piped
to Beersheba, then shipped in
tank cars to the refineries at
Haifa.
While this source may be-
- come more . important in the
future, it hinges on the pros-
pects of a true peace in the
Middle East. Israel cannot af-
ford to base her economy on
this hope. She must continue
the development of her known
fields and move rapidly to
discover new ones.

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Heletz 1 was the first suc-
cessful well drilled by the part-
nership of Israel Oil Prospec-
tors Corporation, Ltd., and Lap-
idoth Israel Petroleum Com-
pany, Ltd. Previously the com-
panies had drilled three dry
holes, two in areas on the south-
western bank of the Dead Sea,
and one in the neighborhood of
Beeri, to the south of Heletz.
The decision was then made
to dieepen a well known as
Huleiqat, which had been aban-
doned and plugged by the Iraq
Petroleum Company in 1947 be-
cause of Arab-Israeli hostilities.
Huleiqat, transliterated into He-
brew, is Heletz. On Sept. 22,
1955, the well came in at 4,906
feet. Subsequent _ drilling re-
vealed a second oil sand at 4,-
950 feet, with a richer show of
oil than the top layer.
Subsequently two offset wells
were drilled, Heletz 2, about
1300 'feet to the southeast, and
Heletz 3, the same distance to
the northwest, both were pro-
ducers. The remaining wells in
the field were drilled to deter-
mine more fully the boundaries
of the oil pool.
Currently Heletz 22, which
has found oil sand at the nor-
mal Heletz depth around 4,900-
5,000 feet, is drilling to explore
the next geological stratum—
the Jurassic—to determine what
might lie below the producing
region.
Each company has already
invested about $5,000,000 in
the search for oil. Two Ameri-
cans, Samuel Friedland and
Max Orovitz, have put in
about $1,000,000, or 20 per
cent, of the Israel Oil Pros-
pectors investment and have
consequently a 10 per cent
interest in the entire enter-
prise. All moneys earned from
the sale of crude to the Israel
government have been
ploughed back into new ex- -
ploration and new purchases
of drilling equipment.
Apart from drilling conces-
sions in the region of Heletz and
Brur, the...investors have other
oil rights in seven areas (see
map). •
According to geologists, the
region of Israel with the great-
est promise for oil adjoins the
Dead Sea. IOP-Lapidoth has
been drilling a deep test well
for more than a year near the
peak of a vast salt mountain in
the Sdom area (see map).
The hole, is now._ more than
9,000 feet deep, and :for' most of
its depth has gone through salt
formations. Because of the enor-
mous pressures, salt becomes
plastic, and drilling is most - dif-
ficult.
The companies, however, plan
to drill to 12,000 feet or more.
A second well in Sdom was

started last spring and is now
5,700 feet deep, going - through
strata of salt and plastic shale.
Here the drilling conditions are
just as difficult and the living
conditions almost intolerable. -
The men are working in 130-
degree temperatures near the
shores of the sea, almost 1,200
feet below sea level. Neverthe-
less work goes on in three shifts,
six days a week.
Another experimental test is
being made in the Znifim area
(see map), deep in the Negev
Desert. Water for the drilling
mud and for the crew has to
be trucked in from a spring 28
miles away. The only access to
the drilling site is through a
dried up creek bottom (wadi)

N•0",•••••••• ■ ••"%00"4•IY ■

which occasionally is flooded
from sudden torrential rains.
The Znifim well is almost
3,000 feet deep, but drilling is
difficult because of the broken
condition of the subsurface rock,
which allows the mud to escape
from the hole and slows down
the cutting.
In the Ashkelon area (see
'map) the companies have drilled
a deep test well which proved
dry. Here they are working on
a share-alike basis with another
firm, Naphtha Israel Petroleum
Company, Ltd. In the Beeri li-
cense area, to _the south of He-
letz, structure holes are being
drilled, with a view to deter-
mining whether or not a deep
test should be made this fall.

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Israel Exploring for More Oil; Production Hits 1,600 Barrels

