jerusalem | More than two decades ago, John Brown grew mesmerized by an evangelical preacher’s theory that the Bible hinted at a major oil field deep beneath Israel’s soil.
Now, armed with unshakable faith and millions of dollars from American evangelicals, Brown is leading a major exploration he hopes will uncover a reservoir of black gold in a country that produces only 80 barrels of oil a day.
“It’s my destiny in life to come to Israel and help the people of Israel become energy independent,’ Brown, an American, said this week.
Skeptical industry experts say Brown could well strike oil, but he would never find enough to even satisfy Israel’s own energy appetite.
Two months ago, Brown’s Zion Oil & Gas Co. began drilling a deep well near Kibbutz Maanit, 25 miles north of Tel Aviv, a site that lies at the intersection of faith and science.
Brown, 65, cites a passage from Genesis that quotes Jacob telling Joseph that God will give him “blessings of the deep that couches beneath,” which he believes refers to oil.
The passage says the blessings will be on “the head of Joseph,” which Brown reads as the geographic location in ancient Israel occupied by the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s sons. Maanit falls within that area.
Zion’s geological experts say previous wells drilled in the area showed the site has good potential for oil, Brown said.
In a Middle East rich with petroleum, Israel has struggled with little success to find deposits of its own for more than 50 years. Large oil companies’ reluctance to work here and risk angering major Arab oil producers has hindered exploration, as have unfavorable geological conditions.
Prospectors have drilled 450 boreholes in the country with only minuscule success. Israeli officials say the failures of the past are not conclusive, and new technology and better drilling methods could uncover oil fields missed in previous searches.
“In many, many places worldwide, many hundreds of boreholes have been drilled before oil was discovered,’ said Yaakov Mimran, Israel’s petroleum commissioner. “I was born optimistic and I’m still optimistic.”
There are promising omens. Geological signs of oil, and discoveries of oil in noncommercial quantities, have been uncovered. Israel also has sizable offshore natural gas fields.
Regardless, “there is large skepticism among the geologists and geophysicists about the prospects about finding a large amount of oil in the region,” said Amit Mor, an Israeli energy expert.
But Brown has no doubts.
“I know I’m right,’ he said.
Brown, a born-again Christian with no previous experience in the oil business, found his life mission when an evangelical preacher gave a lecture to his church in 1981 using the Bible as proof of Israel’s oil wealth. Soon after, Brown traveled to Jerusalem and visited the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism.
“I prayed and asked God for oil for Israel,” he said. “In my heart, I knew the answer was yes.”
He left his job in the tool manufacturing business and started Zion Oil in 1986. For years, he traveled to churches and synagogues to gain support for his project.
Nearly two decades later, he has amassed $7 million, mainly from fellow evangelicals, assembled a team of industry professionals and gained Israel’s support in exploring the Maanit area, he said.
Brown is not the first prospector to combine faith and science in the search for Israeli oil. Other evangelical oilmen, though few with Brown’s financing, have tried their luck here, with no success.
Last year, Tovia Luskin, a fervently religious Jew, began drilling about 15 miles south of Brown’s site, inspired in part by the same “deep that couches beneath” Biblical passage.
Some of Zion’s other officials have more tempered expectations of Israel’s potential than Brown.
Glen Perry, Zion’s manager of Israel operations, said even a sizable find would not meet Israel’s oil needs of about 250,000 barrels a day, though the country would gain some oil independence.
“You could float the entire country on a sea of oil — as small as it is — and not compete with Saudi Arabia or Iraq,” said Perry, a 40-year industry veteran. “But the potential could have a tremendous effect on the economy in Israel.”