The oil drilling planned for the Golan Heights is liable to threaten the Kinneret water sources, argues the campaign against oil wells on the Golan Heights. The local residents say that the pending decision to allow the drilling is not based on any basic environmental impact studies by independent parties on the wells' effect on groundwater, earthquakes, or the use of chemicals and heavy metals.
This Thursday, the Northern Regional Planning and Building Commission will meet to discuss hundreds of objections to the plan by Afek Oil and Gas Ltd. to drill exploratory oil wells near Ramt, Givat Yoav, and Kfar Harub in the southern Golan. The company filed an environmental statement written by Geoprospect Ltd., which was commissioned pursuant to government guidelines. The drilling plan was approved for deposit in February, after approval was obtained from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Mekorot National Water Company, and other agencies.
Afek plans to begin drilling ten exploratory wells in August at the earliest. It estimates that the prospect could produce more than a billion barrels of oil. Each well will take about 2-4 months to drill to depths of 1,200-2,000 meters. After oil is discovered, the company will use standard production techniques to pump oil. A decision on production will only be taken after the findings of the exploratory wells are evaluated.
Residents fear that Afek might use fracking (hydraulic fracturing) and large quantities of water, which are common production methods in North America, and are controversial. The opponents say that fracking could jeopardize Kinneret water sources, because this production process pumps large quantities of chemicals into the strata that are the Kinneret's basin. They argue that fracking is liable to contaminate water basins with heavy metals.
Afek says that the production stage will require filing the necessary permits, so that the issue of chemicals is irrelevant at this time.
If commercial quantities of oil are discovered, Afek will likely ask for the well to be declared a discovery, which will allow it to obtain a 40-year lease. Former Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau granted the exploratory license.
Afek said in response, "A major oil discovery on the Golan is a mission of huge national importance. Protection of the environment is a key component of the company's activity, and we operate according to the strictest professional standards. All possible risks have been analyzed in the environmental statement and ways to prevent or deal with them have been presented. On this basis, permits were granted by the authorities, including the drilling plan was approved for deposit in February, after obtaining approval to drill the wells from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of National Infrastructures, the Ministry of Health, Mekorot, and the Water Authority. The wells will be assisted by a monitoring team that will include representative from the Golan Regional Council, the drilling plan was approved for deposit in February, after approval was obtained from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of National Infrastructures, the Water Authority and Israel Nature and Parks Authority."
Afek, run by chairman Effie Eitam, a former minister of national infrastructures, is a sister company of Israel Energy Initiatives Ltd. (IEI), which has initiated drilling for shale oil in the Adulam area near Bet Shemesh. Both companies are subsidiaries of Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE: GNE), controlled by Howard Jonas. Genie Energy's investors include former US vice president Dick Cheney, Rupert Murdoch, and Lord Rothschild.
Shale turns into oil in a process lasting millions of years. IEI want to test whether this process can be shortened to three years by heating the strata to 300 degrees. IEI and Afek chief geologist Yuval Bartov believes that heat from past volcanism on the Golan had a similar effect.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 15, 2014
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