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Photo: www.energy-pedia.com |
Israeli oil drilling company Shemen Oil and Gas Resources Inc. said late
Sunday that a promising offshore well in the Mediterranean Sea does not
contain any oil. After drilling to 18,700 feet under the sea, at a
total cost of about $175 million, it found after extensive production
tests that the Yam 3 well was dry.
In late August, the company, whose chairman is former IDF chief of staff
Gabi Ashkenazi, said that preliminary tests of the well — located about
10 miles off the coast of Ashdod — showed it could contain up to 120
million barrels’ worth of oil.
The production test will only be finalized
once all the equipment is removed from the well, Globes reported,
leaving a “a small chance” that a technical failure was responsible for
the data indicating a lack of oil or natural gas.
An independent seismic study had found that
there was “a best estimate of 120 million barrels of oil in the license
prospect, and a 36% chance of finding 1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural
gas” at Yam 3, the report said.
Israel has made several large natural gas
discoveries on the Mediterranean coast in recent years, which are
typically invested in by a combination of private Israeli companies, the
government, and foreign interests.