DALLAS and CAESAREA, Israel, June 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZN) (“Zion” or “Company”) today announced that on June 11, 2015, during the Board of Directors (“Board”) meeting following the Company’s annual shareholder meeting, the Board of Directors appointed Victor G. Carrillo as the Company’s new Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and also appointed Glen Perry as the Company’s new President and Chief Operating Officer, to be effective on June 15, 2015.
Mr. Carrillo succeeds John Brown, who was named as CEO in January 2014. Mr. Brown, the Company’s founder, will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of Zion’s Board of Directors. He will also continue to provide the Company’s Biblical vision, advise the CEO and be involved in key company initiatives such as developing the Good News from Zion project.
John Brown says of this natural transition, “This is a logical next step for Zion’s corporate development leading up to this critically important time before we drill the Megiddo-Jezreel #1 well. The Board of Directors and I have confidence in our newly named CEO and President/COO to lead Zion’s team through our upcoming exploratory drilling operations and on to exploration success.” Mr. Brown further states: “Our recent Board meeting was the first time that Mr. Dustin Guinn (CEO of Viking Services), participated as our newest director. As CEO of a global service company engaged in oil and gas drilling, completion and oilfield services, Mr. Guinn has further enhanced our Board’s talent pool to help take us to the next level of exploration success. Our existing Memorandum of Understanding with Viking Services includes using Viking’s rig and services to drill our next well but also contemplates the possibility of jointly establishing Zion Drilling.”
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Mr. Carrillo, age 50, was appointed to Zion’s Board in September 2010 and appointed Executive Vice President in January 2011. In October of 2011 he was appointed as the Company President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Carrillo also currently serves as a director of Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation (an oil and gas company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of unconventional oil and gas resource plays in the US). He also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University. Mr. Carrillo is a petroleum geologist and geophysicist, attorney, former city councilman, former county judge, and former statewide elected official. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Carrillo served as a commissioner of the Railroad Commission of Texas (the state agency with regulatory jurisdiction over Texas oil and gas exploration and production and pipelines), having served twice as chairman of the three-member statewide elected board. Mr. Carrillo holds a law degree from the University of Houston, a Master of Science degree in geology from Baylor University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Hardin-Simmons University. Mr. Carrillo also received an honorary doctorate degree from Hardin-Simmons University in May 2006.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e3f4c408-2216-405e-bf87-45366bc0dc86
Mr. Perry, age 72, was re-appointed to the Board in July 2013. He previously served on Zion’s Board from January 2004 to December 2009 when he retired as Zion’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Since obtaining a Master’s Degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1972, Mr. Perry has accumulated over 40 years of experience in engineering and management in the oil and gas industry. From initial employment as a drilling engineer with Humble Oil and Refining (now Exxon-Mobil) until 1990 he held positions of increasing responsibility in three US domestic companies, culminating as Senior VP for Operations, Engineering and Marketing with a highly successful independent oil company in Houston (Prairie Producing). From 1993 to 1998, he worked in the Commonwealth of Independent States in project acquisition and management before coming to Israel in 1998. During the last 17 years in Israel, he has consulted for or been employed as an officer by Delek Drilling, Ginko, Zion Oil & Gas, Adira, AGR and Genie Energy. Mr. Perry has dual-citizenship in both the US and Israel. He founded GHP Consulting and is currently a consultant to Genie Energy as project manager for the exploration of license #397/Ness and has been an engineering/operations consultant to Zion Oil & Gas. In addition, he is a lecturer in basic drilling operations at the Technion’s Master’s program in petroleum engineering in Israel.
Zion Oil & Gas explores for oil and gas onshore in Israel and its operations are focused on the Megiddo-Jezreel License (approximately 99,000 acres) south and west of the Sea of Galilee, where the Company plans to start drilling a deep exploratory well in late 2015. For more info, visit www.zionoil.com