An estimated 2.4 tcf of natural gas and 9.8 million bbl of natural gas liquids lie beneath eastern Oregon and Washington, the US Geological Survey reported. The figures are mean estimates of undiscovered gas resources beneath 60,000 sq miles of the two Pacific Northwest states. A USGS team conducted a geology-based assessment using the total petroleum system approach, the US Department of the Interior agency said. The work was done in 2006, but specific figures were not released until recently, a spokeswoman said.

The report said the Columbia River Basalt Group, 4,000-18,000 ft in thickness, overlies the Cretaceous Tertiary total petroleum system in the area east of the Cascade Mountains. Volcanic rock units from the Miocene epoch through the Quaternary period overlying the province's most southern part had previously limited knowledge of that area's stratigraphy and structural geology, USGS said.

In the hypothetical Columbia basin assessment unit (AU) , which covers more than 4 million acres, the assessment team estimated that 2.1 tcf of gas and 9.2 million bbl of NGL are in Tertiary rocks beneath the Columbia River basalt, according to the report. The largest undiscovered gas field in the AU holds a mean estimate of 362.9 bcf, it added.

In a second area, the hypothetical Eastern Oregon and Washington conventional gas AU covering more than 22.2 million acres, the report listed a mean estimate of 300 bcf of conventional gas and 610,000 bbl of NGL. It said the estimated mean size of the AU's largest undiscovered gas field is 78.3 bcf (OGJ, Jan. 14, 2008, p. 35).

The report said that the assessment team identified a third area, the Republican Graben Gas AU, but did not quantitatively assess it.

Known to be present beneath the basalt of north-central Oregon and central Washington are some 5,000-10,000 ft of arkosic sandstone, mudstone, lacustrine shale, and coal, which include potential source and reservoir rocks. The province's only discovered commercial gas accumulation is the abandoned Rattlesnake Hills field, in Benton County, Wash., which produced about 1.3 bcf of gas.

Numerous other gas shows are known in the province, but as of 2006 no new commercial accumulations have been found, the report said.

Israel

Zion Oil & Gas Inc., Dallas, plans to spud the Ma'anit-Rehoboth- 2 well in Israel in early 2009.

Aladdin Middle East Ltd. has refurbished a 2,000-hp rig to directionally drill the well deeper than 18,000 ft. Pending the receipt of permits from Israel, the rig is to be shipped from Turkey in January 2009.