Israel Discovers Huge Oil Deposit In Golan Heights

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Golan heights

Israeli oil prospectors have found a huge oil deposit in the occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli media.

The oil discovery has the potential to make Israel energy self-sufficient for decades according to the Jewish Press…. Enough, in fact, to potentially make Israel self-sufficient for many years to come, according to Afek Oil and Gas chief geologist Dr. Yuval Bartov, who spoke on Wednesday to Israel’s Channel 2 TV news. Afek is a subsidiary of Genie Energy, a U.S. firm.

However, the Israeli presence in the area is in dispute.The Golan Heights, which is internationally recognized as Syrian territory has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 war between Israel and Arab states.

RT reports:  UN Resolution 242 (1967) demands the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the territories occupied in the conflict. Israel disagrees with the wording of the resolution, saying the territories are disputable.

golan heights

Reportedly, the potential production may reach billions of barrels, while Israel consumes 270,000 barrels per day. Israel currently imports up to three quarters of its oil from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, the Financial Times reported in August.

“We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity. On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is ten times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities. The important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that’s what we now know,” Israel business website Globes quotes Yuval Bartov, chief geologist of Afek Oil and Gas as saying. Afek is a subsidiary of the America’s Genie Energy.

In 2013 Israel granted a U.S. company the first license to explore for oil and gas in the occupied Golan Heights. The permit allows Genie Oil and Gas exclusive petroleum exploration rights over a 153-square mile radius in the southern part of the Golan Heights.

Genie oil is advised by former vice president Dick Cheney and shareholders include Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch and they will now have exclusive rights to the southern part of the Golan Heights.

 

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