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disputes. The |
Company is not subject to any litigation at the present time. C. Market Conditions – Coronavirus |
Pandemic and Israel-Hamas War During March 2020, a global pandemic was declared |
by the World Health Organization related to the rapidly growing outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”). The |
pandemic significantly impacted the economic conditions in the United States and Israel, as federal, state and local governments reacted |
to the public health crisis, creating significant uncertainties in the United States, Israel and world economies. In the interest of public |
health and safety, jurisdictions (international, national, state and local) where we have operations, restricted travel and required workforces |
to work from home. However, as of the date of this report, most of our employees are working at our physical offices, but have the ability |
to work from home as needed. See comments in “Subsequent Events” for the potential impact |
of the Israel-Hamas War on our operations. D. |
Environmental and Onshore Licensing Regulatory Matters The |
Company is engaged in oil and gas exploration and production and may become subject to certain liabilities as they relate to environmental |
clean-up of well sites or other environmental restoration procedures and other obligations as they relate to the drilling of oil and |
gas wells or the operation thereof. Various guidelines have been published in Israel by the State of Israel’s Petroleum Commissioner |
and Energy and Environmental Ministries as it pertains to oil and gas activities. Mention of these older guidelines was included in previous |
Zion filings. The |
Company believes that these regulations will result in an increase in the expenditures associated with obtaining new exploration rights |
and drilling new wells. The Company expects that an additional financial burden could occur as a result of requiring cash reserves that |
could otherwise be used for operational purposes. In addition, these regulations are likely to continue to increase the time needed to |
obtain all of the necessary authorizations and approvals to drill and production test exploration wells. As |
of September 30, 2023, and December 31, 2022, the Company accrued $ nil and $ nil for license regulatory matters. E. |
Bank Guarantees As |
of September 30, 2023, the Company provided Israeli-required bank guarantees to various governmental bodies (approximately $ 930,000 ) |
and others (approximately $ 85,000 ) with respect to its drilling operation in an aggregate amount of approximately $ 1,015,000 . The (cash) |
funds backing these guarantees are held in restricted interest-bearing accounts in Israel and are reported on the Company’s balance |
sheets as fixed short-term bank deposits – restricted. 33 Zion |
Oil & Gas, Inc. Consolidated |
Condensed Notes to Financial Statements (Unaudited) Note |
6 - Commitments and Contingencies (cont’d) F. |
Market Risk Market |
risk is a broad term for the risk of economic loss due to adverse changes in the fair value of a financial instrument. These changes |
may be the result of various factors, including interest rates, foreign exchange rates, commodity prices and/or equity prices. In the |
normal course of doing business, we are exposed to the market-related risks associated with foreign currency exchange rates and changes |
in interest rates. Foreign |
Currency Exchange Rate Risks. A portion of our expenses, primarily labor expenses and certain supplier contracts, are denominated |
in New Israeli Shekels (“NIS”). As a result, we have significant exposure to the risk of fluctuating exchange rates with |
the U.S. Dollar (“USD”), our primary reporting currency. During the period January 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023, the |
USD has fluctuated by approximately 8.7 % against the NIS (the USD strengthened relative to the NIS). Also, during the period January |
1, 2022 through December 31, 2022, the USD fluctuated by approximately 13.2 % against the NIS (the USD strengthened relative to the NIS). |
Continued strengthening of the US dollar against the NIS will result in lower operating costs from NIS denominated expenses. To date, |
we have not hedged any of our currency exchange rate risks, but we may do so in the future. Interest |
Rate Risk. Our exposure to market risk relates to our cash and investments. We maintain an investment portfolio of short-term bank |
deposits and money market funds. The securities in our investment portfolio are not leveraged, and are, due to their very short-term |
nature, subject to minimal interest rate risk. We currently do not hedge interest rate exposure. Because of the short-term maturities |
of our investments, we do not believe that a change in market interest rates would have a significant negative impact on the value of |
our investment portfolio except for reduced income in a low interest rate environment. At September 30, 2023, we had cash, cash equivalents |
and short-term bank deposits of approximately $ 1,530,000 . The weighted average annual interest rate related to our cash and cash equivalents |
for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, exclusive of funds at US banks that earn no interest, was approximately 4.45 % |
and 3.51 %, respectively. The |
primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time maximizing yields without significantly |
increasing risk. To achieve this objective, we invest our excess cash in short-term bank deposits and money market funds that may invest |
in high quality debt instruments. Note |
7 - Subsequent Events (i) On |
October 7, 2023, Hamas, a militant terrorist organization in Gaza, infiltrated southern Israel, killing and injuring at least one thousand |
Israeli citizens. This unprovoked attack led the nation of Israel to declare war on Hamas approximately one week later. As of the date |
of this report, Israel remains at war, which lead the Company to temporarily discontinue its exploration activities. It is currently |
not determinable when the resumption of our exploration activities will begin. (ii) Approximately $ 391,000 was collected through the Company’s DSPP program during the period October 1 through November 7, 2023. 34 ITEM |
2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION SHOULD |
BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR UNAUDITED INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND THE RELATED NOTES TO THOSE STATEMENTS |
INCLUDED IN THIS FORM 10-Q. SOME OF OUR DISCUSSION IS FORWARD-LOOKING AND INVOLVES RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES. FOR INFORMATION REGARDING |
RISK FACTORS THAT COULD HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON OUR BUSINESS, REFER TO THE DISCUSSION OF RISK FACTORS IN THE “DESCRIPTION |
OF BUSINESS” SECTION OF OUR ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2022, FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE |
COMMISSION AND TO THE SUBSEQUENT EVENTS IN NOTE 7 OF THIS FORM 10-Q. Forward-Looking |
Statements Certain |
statements made in this discussion are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation |
Reform Act of 1995. These statements may materially differ from actual results. Forward-looking |
statements can be identified by terminology such as “may”, “should”, “expects”, “intends”, |
“anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, or “continue” or the |
negative of these terms or other comparable terminology and include, without limitation, statements regardin ● The Israel-Hamas war which began in October 2023 and its effect on our |
exploration program; ● the |
going concern qualification in our consolidated financial statements; ● our |
ability to obtain new license areas to continue our petroleum exploration program; · ● our |
liquidity and our ability to raise capital to finance our overall exploration and development activities within our license area; ● our |
ability to continue meeting the requisite continued listing requirements by OTCQX; ● business |
interruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Israel-Hamas war; ● interruptions, increased consolidated financial costs and |
other adverse impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the Israel-Hamas war on the drilling and testing of our petroleum exploration program and |
our capital raising efforts; ● our |
ability to explore for and develop natural gas and oil resources successfully and economically within a license area; ● our |
ability to maintain the exploration license rights to continue our petroleum exploration program; ● the |
availability of equipment, such as seismic equipment, drilling rigs, and production equipment as well as access to qualified personnel; ● the |
impact of governmental regulations, permitting and other legal requirements in Israel relating to onshore exploratory drilling; ● our |
estimates of the time frame within which future exploratory activities will be undertaken; ● changes |
in our exploration plans and related budgets; 35 ● the |
quality of existing and future license areas with regard to, among other things, the existence of hydrocarbon reserves in economic |
quantities; ● anticipated |
trends in our business; ● our |
future results of operations; ● our |
capital expenditure program; ● future |
market conditions in the oil and gas industry ● the |
demand for oil and natural gas, both locally in Israel and globally; and ● the |
impact of fluctuating oil and gas prices on our exploration efforts All |
references in this Quarterly Report to the “Company”, “Zion”, “we”, “us”, or “our”, |
are to Zion Oil and Gas, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Zion Drilling, Inc. and Zion Drilling |
Services, Inc. described below. Current |
Exploration and Operation Efforts Zion |
Oil and Gas, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is an oil and gas exploration company with a history of 23 years of oil and gas exploration |
in Israel. We were incorporated in Florida on April 6, 2000 and reincorporated in Delaware on July 9, 2003. We completed our initial |
public offering in January 2007. Our common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Common Stock”) currently trades on the |
OTCQX marketplace of OTC Markets, Inc. under the symbol “ZNOG” and our Common Stock warrant under the symbol “ZNOGW.” |
On January 24, 2020, the Company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Zion Drilling, Inc., a Delaware corporation, for the purpose |
Subsets and Splits