TEL AVIV – An oil well near the Dead Sea is worth NIS 1.2 billion ($322 million), a new report released Sunday by Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP claimed.
The study, conducted by the independent Dunmore Consulting company, said that the Hatrurim area contains between seven to eleven million barrels of oil. According to the report, there is a 100 percent chance of striking oil in the area, which covers 94 square kilometers.
Oil was previously discovered at the same spot in 1995 but was deemed too expensive to develop – especially considering the low oil prices at the time.
Since the report’s publication on Sunday, Israel Opportunity’s stock increased by 35 percent, Israeli news site Ynet reported.
Licenses to drill at the oil reservoir were granted to five other partners, including Zerah Oil and Gas, Gulliver Energy, Ashtrom Group, and Cyprus Opportunity.
Israel Opportunity said it will use “advanced technologies” to start drilling, with an estimated budget of $5 million.
Eyal Shuker, the company’s CEO, told Channel 2 he is “excited about the findings and plan to prepare for drilling as soon as possible.”
“In an era when the field of oil and gas exploration in Israel is full of uncertainty,” Shuker noted, “the partnership has been given the chance to enter a reservoir from which oil has already been produced.”