Globe Exploration LP (TASE: GLEX.L) today announced that it has signed an agreement with a foreign drilling company to drill the Ofek 1 exploratory well in the company's Ofek license in the Ramle-Lod area in central Israel. The well, which is set to drill to 2,500 meters, will cost $4.2 million. Drilling will begin in April, but could be delayed to July.
Globe Exploration did not disclose the name of the drilling company, saying only, "The drilling contractor has prior experience drilling in Israel, and it has a rig and employees in Israel at this time." The only foreign drilling contractor currently in Israel is Turkey's Aladdin Middle East Ltd., based in Ankara. Lapidoth Israel Oil Prospectors Corporation Ltd. (TASE: LAPD) is an Israeli drilling company.
Aladdin Middle East is drilling for Zion Oil & Gas Inc. (Nasdaq:ZN). The rig, at the Yosef-Maanit 3 well in the Yosef license in the coastal plain, is due to drill to a depth of 5,900 meters.
If signs of oil are found in the Ofek license, and Globe Exploration wants to carry out production tests at the borehole, the tests will cost an estimated $1.2 million.
Globe Exploration's share price rose 3.6% to NIS 0.086, giving a market cap of NIS 123 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 24, 2011
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