Afek Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of Genie Energy, a U.S. firm, drilling on the Golan Heights claimed to have found “significant amounts” of oil in the plateau.
The reserves were found in the southern Golan, following a year of drilling. The potential for production is huge: billions of barrels of oil, enough to provide for decades of local consumption in a country which uses 270,000 barrels per day.
Yuval Bartov, chief geologist of Afek Oil and Gas noted that “We’re talking about a layer 350 meters thick,” The layer is ten times larger than the average oil find worldwide, and that’s why we’re talking about significant amounts.”
The company says the oil find is confirmed, the firm says the quality, more precise measures of quantity and cost-effectiveness of extracting the oil won’t be known until the extraction is begun.
Exploratory drilling which began in December 2014 ended with three sites being tapped. Afek recently submitted a request to the government for authorization to drill an additional 10 wells.
