Israel petroleum systems

Petroleum has been exploited in the area of Israel since times of antiquity. Remains of asphalt collected along the Dead Sea shore were identified in Egyptian mummies dated to about 200 B.C. Modern commercial exploitation of hydrocarbons began in the 1950s with the discovery of the Helez oil field in the southern Coastal Plain of Israel (Figure 1). The Helez success promoted drilling activity throughout the country, but until the 1990s only small quantities of oil and gas had been discovered and produced. In 1999 the focus of exploration was shifted from the onshore systems to the Levantine Basin (Figure 1). In the following decade, 11 natural gas fields were discovered offshore Israel in water depths ranging from 200–1600 m (656–5249 ft). One of them, the MariB field (Figure 1), began production in 2004 and the Tamar field in 2013.

• 

  Figure 1 Map showing the main tectonic elements and petroleum occurrences of Israel. The two most prominent tectonic features are the Levantine Basin and Margin in the west and the Dead Sea rift in the east. Most of the hydrocarbon accumulations found in Israel are associated with these two tectonic provinces. Other important structural elements are the Syrian Arc fold belt in central and southern Israel, the Sinai-Negev dextral, strike-slip faults, and the normal fault system of the Galilee. Numbers refer to oil fields and hydrocarbon shows detailed in Table 1. 50 km (31.1 mi).

• 

  Figure 2 Map showing the location of oil and gas wells and active petroleum rights (licenses and leases) in Israel. The information in the map is updated to April 2012 (adapted from information in the Israel Ministry of Energy and Water Resources website). 50 km (31.1 mi).

Table 1 Summary table of the oil and gas fields and the main hydrocarbon shows in the area of Israel. The locations of hydrocarbon accumulations are shown in Figure 1. Production data is taken from the Ministry of Energy database and includes the cumulative amount of hydrocarbons that had been produced by the end of 2011 (U.F. = Undeveloped Field). Resource data includes the amount of technically recoverable oil and gas resources in discovered fields, taken from public company reports and other published sources. The resources in the Aphrodite field are estimated for the area in Israeli water. The Gaza Marine field is located outside of the Israeli economic water. The production and resource data of the Helez field (5) includes the combined amount in all three reservoir levels. The amount of recoverable resources in some of the small onshore fields (1, 2, 4, 9, 12, and 20) is unknown

Age	Field or Show # (show=*)	Field or Show Name	Petroleum System	Year of Discovery	Reservoir Name or Formation	Reservoir Type	Hydrocarbon Type	Trap Type	Source Rock	Seal Rock	Produced by 2001 (MMBO &/or BCFG)	Recoverable Resources (MMBO &/or BCFG)
Quaternary	27	Hula	Hula	1991	Huyla Sand	Continental sandstone, coal	Gas	Structural/stratigraphic	Hula Formation	Hula marl	0.01	0.2
	26	Ashdod Gas	Yafo	1976	Kurkar Yafo	calcarenite	Gas	Stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Saqiye Group	0.37	1.5
Pliocene	25	Gaza Marine	Yafo	2000	Yafo Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Yafo shale	U.F.	1200
	24	Nir	Yafo	2000	Yafo Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural/stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Yafo shale	U.F.	4
	23	MarieB	Yafo	2000	Yafo Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural/stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Yafo shale	770	1200
	22	Or	Yafo	1999	Yafo Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Yafo shale	U.F.	35
	21	Noa	Yafo	1999	Yafo Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Yafo shale	U.F.	42
	20	Shiqma	Yalo	1978	Shiqma Sand	Shoreline sandstone	Gas	Stratigraphic	Saqiye Group	Yafo shale	1.4	-1.4
Miocene	19	Aphrodite	Tamar	2011	Tamar Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Mavqiim Evaporites	U.F.	3000
	18	Tanin	Tamar	2011	Tamar Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Mavqiim Evaporites	U.F.	600
	17	Dolphin	Tamar	2011	Tamar Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Mavqiim Evaporites	U.F.	80
	16	Leviathan	Tamar	2010	Tamar Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Mavqiim Evaporites	U.F.	17000
	15	Dalit	Tamar	2009	Tamar Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Mavqiim Evaporites	U.F.	270
	14	Tamar	Tamar	2008	Tamar Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Mavqiim Evaporites	U.F.	9000
	13*	Amiaz	Dead Sea	1990	Hazeva Sand	Continental sandstone	Heavy oil	Structural	Mt. Scopus Group	Sedom Evaporites
Late Cretaceous	12	Sadot	Yafo	1977	Judea	Shelf carbonate	Gas	Structural	Saqiye Group	Saqiye Shale	–30	–30
	7*	Yam	Yam	1989	Gevaram Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Unknown	Gevaram shale
Early	8*	Yam Yafo	Yam	1994	Gevaram Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Unknown	Gevram shale
Cretaceous	10*	Yam West	Yam	1994	Gevaram Sand	Turbidite sandstone	Gas	Structural	Unknown	Gevaram shale
	9	Gurim	Dead Sea	1983	Hatira Sand	Continental sandstone	Heavy oil	Structural	Mt. Scopus Group	Judea Carbonate	0.009	–0.009
	5	Helez	Helez	1955	Helez	Shoreline sandstone	Oil	Structural/stratigraphic	Barnea Formation	Talme Yafe marl	17.4	19
Late Jurassic	5	Helez	Helez	1955	Nir'am	Shelf carbonate	Oil	Structural	Barnea Formation	Talme Yafe marl	17.4	19
	8*	Yam Yafo*	Yam	1994		Carbonate gravity-flow	Oil	Structural	Unknown	Gevaram shale
Middle Jurassic	7*	Yam	Yam	1989		Carbonate gravity-flow	Oil	Structural	Unknown	Gevaram shale
	6	Ashdod	Helez	1976	Zohar	Shelf carbonate	Oil	Structural	Barnea Formation	Kidod shale	0.213	1
	5	Helez	Helez	1964	Brur	Shelf carbonate	Oil	Structural	Barnea Formation	Gevaram shale	17.4	19
	4	Zohar/Kidod/Kanaim	Dead Sea	1957	Zohar	Shelf carbonate	Gas	Structural	Mt. Scopus Group	Kidod shale	73	–73
Late Triassic	3	Meged	Meged	1994	Mohilla	Shelf carbonate	Oil	Structural	Unknown	Mohila anhydrite	0.13	2.2
Middle	1	Emunah	Dead Sea	1995	Gevanim	Shoreline Sandstone	Oil	Structural	Mt. Scopus Group	Mohila anhydrite	0.013	–0.013
Triassic	2	Zuk Tamrur	Dead Sea	1994	Raaf	Shelf carbonate	Oil	Structural	Mt. Scopus Group	Mohila anhydrite	0.13	–0.15
Permian	1*	Emunah	Dead Sea	1995	Saad/Arkov	Continental sandstone	Oil	Structural	Mt. Scopus Group	Arkov shale

The 60-year-old story of Israel’s petroleum industry is one of many rises and falls. Periods of drilling success were followed by dry wells and suspension of exploration activity, at times influenced by geopolitical instability, unfavorable fiscal regime, and lack of capital investment. Once government owned, the three Israeli oil companies, INOC (Israel National Oil Company), Naphta, and the Lapidoth Oil Prospectors, were fully privatized during the 1990s.

The recent, offshore drilling success has attracted major capital investment and has resulted in a surge of exploration activity (Figure 2) with the participation of internationally based oil companies. In the coming decade new targets will be drilled in the Levantine Basin offshore Israel which may lead to an increase in gas reserves and possibly prove the potential for the production of oil, previously discovered in several offshore wells (Figure 1). For the first time in its history, Israel has the prospect of supplying its own energy needs and even becoming an exporter of natural gas.

See also

• Phanerozoic Tethys region
• Tethys region
• Libya hydrocarbon provinces
• Jordan petroleum geology
• Iraq petroleum geology
• Iran petroleum systems
• Petroleum basins of Turkey

External links

find literature about Israel petroleum systems

• Original content in Datapages
• PDF file in Datapages