Zion Oil Commences Drilling Operations on Its Elijah #3 Well

Zion Oil Commences Drilling Operations on Its Elijah #3 Well

Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. a Delaware corporation, explores for oil and gas in Israel in areas located on-shore between Haifa and Tel Aviv announced that drilling operations have begun on its Elijah #3 well. Utilizing the 2,000 horsepower drilling rig used to drill Zion’s Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2 well, Zion has commenced drilling its Elijah #3 well toward the Triassic geological formation, which is expected below approximately 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). Zion then plans to continue drilling to the Permian geological formation, down to a total depth below 17,000 feet (5,182 meters).

The rig will operate on a 24 hour basis utilizing two drilling crews on 12 hour shifts. Samples will be collected, continuously analyzed for hydrocarbon content and stored.

Zion’s Chief Executive Officer Richard Rinberg said today, “We are excited to announce the next step in our planned multi-well drilling program. On Sunday October 18, 2009 we commenced drilling our Elijah #3 well on our Asher-Menashe license and expect that operations will last approximately six months.

“On October 2, 2009, after fixing a wellhead in place, we temporarily suspended drilling activities on our Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2 well, drilled by us to a depth of 17,913 feet (5,460 meters), until a smaller rig becomes available for completion operations on the seven zones that warrant completion testing. We expect that the completion rig will be available in December 2009.”

Zion’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “ZN” and Zion’s warrants trade under the symbol “ZNWAW”.

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