DALLAS and CAESAREA, Israel, June 28, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZN) announced today that the Company joined the broad-market Russell 3000® Index, the U.S. small-cap Russell 2000® Index, the Russell Microcap® Index and the Russell Global® Index after Russell Investments ("Russell") reconstituted its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 24, 2011.
Richard Rinberg, CEO of Zion Oil & Gas commented; "I am very pleased that Russell has selected Zion Oil & Gas to be included in the Russell Indexes. Zion's addition to these influential and actively traded indexes provides us with an opportunity to increase our visibility to a wider audience of investors as we continue in our efforts to create long-term value to our shareholders.''
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading US$3.9 trillion in institutional assets currently are benchmarked to them.
The annual reconstitution of Russell's U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000 Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in either the large-cap Russell 1000® Index or small-cap Russell 2000 Index, as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes. The Russell 3000 Index also serves as the U.S. component of the Russell Global® Index. More information about Russell Indexes is available at www.russell.com/indexes.
Zion's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "ZN".
Zion Oil & Gas, a Delaware corporation, explores for oil and gas in Israel in areas located onshore between Haifa and Tel Aviv. It currently holds two petroleum exploration licenses, the Joseph License (on approximately 83,000 acres), between Netanya, in the south, and Haifa, in the north and the Jordan Valley License (on approximately 56,000 acres), just south of the Sea of Galilee. The Asher-Menashe License (on approximately 79,000 acres), which Zion has held continuously since June 2007, expired on June 9, 2011 (its scheduled expiration date); however, prior to that date, Zion submitted an extension application to Israel's Petroleum Commissioner.
The Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6850
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Statements in this press release that are not historical fact, including statements regarding Zion's planned operations and potential results thereof and plans contingent thereon, the impact of the procurement or non-procurement of applied for licenses and permits and license extensions and the effects, if any, of being added to the Russell indexes are forward-looking statements as defined in the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that are subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unpredictable factors, many of which are described in Zion's periodic reports filed with the SEC and are beyond Zion's control. These risks could cause Zion's actual performance to differ materially from the results predicted by these forward-looking statements. Zion can give no assurance that the expectations reflected in these statements will prove to be correct and assumes no responsibility to update these statements.
Zion's homepage may be found at: www.zionoil.com