DALLAS and CAESAREA, Israel, Oct. 27, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZN) reported today that the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner has awarded the company a one-year extension on its Joseph petroleum exploration license in Northern Israel.
Zion's Joseph license covers an area of approximately 83,272 acres on the Israeli coastal plain south of the Asher-Menashe License between Caesarea in the north and Netanya in the south.
The Joseph License had an initial three-year term, which commenced on October 11, 2007 and was extended by one year, until October 11, 2011. On October 26, 2011, Zion received notification from the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner extending the term of the Joseph License by a further year, until October 10, 2012. The Joseph License may be extended for additional one-year periods up to October 10, 2014.
The Joseph License extension carries a commitment to acquire additional seismic data and to sign a drilling contract to drill a new well in the License Area (or re-enter an existing well) no later than October 1, 2012.
Richard Rinberg, Zion's Chief Executive Officer, commented that, "Earlier this year, we submitted applications to the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner for three further exploration areas: the Dead Sea License Application (covering an area of approximately 74,925 acres), the Asher-Joseph Permit Application (covering an area of approximately 80,000 acres) and the Zebulun Permit Application (covering an area of approximately 157,480 acres). If all of our applications are granted, the total petroleum exploration area under Zion's control would be approximately 530,346 acres.
We remain excited about the possibility of recovering hydrocarbons on our license and permit areas, onshore Israel, especially due to the U.S. Geological Survey report, published in April 2010, containing their assessment that there may be 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable undiscovered oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin, as all of Zion's exploration rights fall within the area of the Levant Basin."
Zion's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "ZN" and Zion's warrants trade under the symbol "ZNWAW, ZNWAZ and ZNWAL".
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 three petroleum exploration licenses, the Joseph License (on approximately 83,272 acres) and the Asher-Menashe License (on approximately 78,824 acres) between Netanya, in the south, and Haifa, in the north and the Jordan Valley License (on approximately 55,845 acres), just south of the Sea of Galilee. The total license area amounts to approximately 217,941 acres.
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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: Statements in this communication that are not historical fact, including statements regarding Zion's planned operations, geophysical and geological data and interpretation, anticipated attributes of geological strata being drilled, drilling efforts and locations, the presence or recoverability of hydrocarbons, sufficiency of cash reserves, ability to raise additional capital and the effects of non-procurement of pending license and permit applications and timing and potential results thereof and plans contingent thereon 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