DEF 14A 1 def14a0421_zionoilgas.htm DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

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SCHEDULE 14A

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(Rule 14a-101)
Information Required in Proxy Statement
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Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities
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ZION OIL & GAS, INC.

(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

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(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

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ZION OIL & GAS, INC.
12655 North Central Expressway, Suite 1000
Dallas, Texas 75243
(214) 221-4610

To the Stockholders of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc.:

We are pleased to invite you to attend the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. The meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m., Central Standard Time (“CST”), on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, via live webinar. In Dallas, the in-person meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. (“CST”) at the offices of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc., 12655 North Central Expressway, Dallas, Texas 75243. Holders of the common stock of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. as of the close of business on the record date of April 12, 2021, are entitled to vote before and at the Annual Meeting via www.voteproxy.com, or calling toll free 1-800-776-9437, or by in-person attendance. You are encouraged to vote prior to the meeting, since this internet site and this phone number are the only ways to vote during the Annual Meeting webinar, except for in-person attendance at the meeting. The Annual Meeting webinar provides us the opportunity to present a review of our current exploration activities in Israel and our plans for future operations to more of our shareholders than those attending the in-person meeting.

To register and participate in the Annual Meeting via live webinar, you will need your control number, which can be found on your Notice, on your proxy card, and on the instructions that accompany your proxy materials. Please register for the webinar at https://www.zionoil.com/2021AMS by June 4, 2021. When registering, shareholders may submit questions for the Q & A portion of the Meeting. The webinar details will be emailed to registered shareholders prior to the Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting will begin promptly at 2:00 p.m. CST on June 9, 2021. A recorded presentation of the meeting will be available on our website later.

You are asked to vote on a couple of important proposals that include: (1) electing four directors, (2) increasing the number of shares of common stock from 400 million to 800 million, (3) ratifying the appointment of our independent public accountants, RBSM, LLP and (4) approving the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan.

You may vote your shares by Internet, by telephone, or by mail from the proxy information received. It is very important for you to vote, to help prevent your shares from possibly being forfeited by a state government (“escheatment”) due to dormancy or lack of company contact.

On behalf of the Board of Directors and management, thank you for your cooperation and continued support for Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. and the mission to help make Israel energy independent. Your vote is very important to us.

Sincerely,

John M. Brown

Executive Chairman of the Board

ZION OIL & GAS, INC.
12655 North Central Expressway, SUITE 1000
DALLAS, TEXAS 75243

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2021 Annual Meeting (the “Annual Meeting”) of the Stockholders of ZION OIL & GAS, INC. (the “Company”) will be held at 2:00 P.M. (CST) on June 9, 2021 via live webinar and the in-person meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. (“CST”) at the offices of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc., 12655 North Central Expressway, Dallas, Texas 75243 to:

1. Elect four directors of the Company as Class I directors to serve for a term of three years;

2. Amend the Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of shares of common stock, par value $0.01 (“Common Stock”), that the Company is authorized to issue from 400 million to 800 million;

3. Ratify the appointment of RBSM, LLP, as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021;

4. Approve the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan; and

5. Conduct such other business as may properly come before the Annual Meeting and any adjournment(s) thereof.

The foregoing items of business are more fully described in the Proxy Statement that accompanies this Notice. The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on April 12, 2021 as the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting or any adjournment thereof via www.voteproxy.com, or by calling toll free 1-800-776-9437. Only stockholders of record at the close of business on the record date are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting.

Regardless of whether you plan to log into the Annual Meeting webinar or attend in-person, please vote your shares as soon as possible so that we may have a quorum at the Annual Meeting, and your shares will be voted in accordance with your instructions. For specific voting instructions, please refer to the instructions on the proxy card or on the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials that was mailed to you.

		By Order of the Board of Directors
		/s/ John M. Brown
		John M. Brown
		Executive Chairman of the Board

April 15, 2021

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING INTERNET AVAILABILITY OF
PROXY MATERIALS FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING AND ANNUAL REPORT

The Company’s proxy materials and Annual Report on Form 10-K are available at:
http://www.astproxyportal.com/ast/ZionOil/

ZION OIL & GAS, INC.
12655 North Central Expressway, Suite 1000
DALLAS, TEXAS 75243

PROXY STATEMENT

For the Annual Meeting of Stockholders
to be held via webinar on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 and in-person in Dallas, Texas

This Proxy Statement is being furnished in connection with the solicitation by the Board of Directors (the “Board of Directors” or the “Board”) of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Zion”, “Zion Oil” or the “Company”), of proxies to be voted at the 2021 Annual Meeting (the “Annual Meeting”) of the Company’s stockholders via live webinar on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. (“CST”) and in-person at 2:00 p.m. (“CST”) and any adjournment(s) thereof.

Holders of the common stock of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. as of the close of business on the record date of April 12, 2021, are entitled to vote before and at the Annual Meeting via www.voteproxy.com, or calling toll free 1-800-776-9437, but you are encouraged to vote prior to the meeting, since this internet site and this phone number are the only ways to vote during the Annual Meeting webinar, except in-person. The Annual Meeting webinar provides us the opportunity to present a review of our current exploration activities in Israel and our plans for future operations to more of our shareholders than those attending the in-person meeting.

To register and participate in the Annual Meeting via live webinar, you will need your control number, which can be found on your Notice, on your proxy card, and on the instructions that accompany your proxy materials. Please register for the webinar at https://www.zionoil.com/2021AMS by June 4, 2021. When registering, shareholders may submit questions for the Q & A portion of the Meeting. During the Meeting, a chat room will be available for questions during the Meeting with webinar participants. The webinar details will be emailed to registered shareholders prior to the Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting will begin promptly at 2:00 p.m. CST on June 9, 2021 and in-person at 2:00 p.m. (“CST”). A recorded presentation of the meeting will be available on our website later.

If you are a stockholder of record as of April 12, 2021, the record date for the annual meeting, you may vote at any time during the meeting prior to the closing of the polls by voting online at www.voteproxy.com, or by calling toll free 1-800-776-9437. This is not necessary, if you have previously voted your shares.

If your shares are held in “street name” through a broker, bank or other nominee, in order to participate in the virtual annual meeting you must first obtain a legal proxy from your broker, bank or other nominee reflecting the number of shares of Zion Oil & Gas Inc. common stock you held as of the record date, your name and email address. You then must submit a copy of the legal proxy and a request for registration to American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC: (1) by email to proxy@astfinancial.com; (2) by facsimile to 718-765-8730 or (3) by mail to American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, Attn: Proxy Tabulation Department, 6201 15th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219. Requests for registration must be labeled as “Legal Proxy” and be received by American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on May 28, 2021. We will then send the holder back via email the necessary information (company number and control number) that will allow you to vote at the AST site.

Pursuant to rules adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), we are providing stockholders of record as of the Record Date (defined below) with Internet access to our proxy materials. Our Board has made these proxy materials available to you on the Internet on or about April 21, 2021 at www.astproxyportal.com/ast/ZionOil/, which is the website described in the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”), mailed to stockholders of record. We are sending the Notice to our stockholders of record as of the Record Date of April 12, 2021, and filing the Notice with the SEC, on or about April 15, 2021. In addition to our proxy materials being available for review, the website contains instructions on how to access the proxy materials over the Internet or to request a printed copy, free of charge. In addition, stockholders may request proxy materials in printed form by mail or electronically by e-mail on an ongoing basis by contacting our Investor Relations Department at our principal executive offices in Dallas, Texas. Upon request and at no cost, we will also provide stockholders a copy of our Form10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on March 24, 2021.

At the Annual Meeting, the stockholders will be asked to:

1. Elect four directors of the Company as Class I directors to serve for a term of three years;

3. Ratify the appointment of RBSM, LLP, as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021;

4. Approve the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan; and

5. Conduct such other business as may properly come before the Annual Meeting and any adjournment(s) thereof.

To have a valid meeting of the stockholders, a quorum of the Company’s stockholders is necessary. A quorum shall consist of a majority of the shares of the Common Stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote on the Record Date present in person or by proxy at the Annual Meeting time. Abstentions and broker non-votes shall be counted as present for the purpose of determining the presence of a quorum. Stockholders who execute proxies retain the right to revoke them at any time by notice in writing to the Company’s Secretary, or by presenting a later-dated proxy. Unless so revoked, the shares represented by proxies will be voted at the Annual Meeting. The shares represented by the proxies solicited by the Board will be voted in accordance with the directions given therein, but if no direction is given, such shares unless otherwise restricted by law will be voted:

(i) FOR the election as directors of the nominees of the Board named below;

(ii) FOR the proposal to amend the Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of shares of common stock, par value $0.01 (“Common Stock”), that the Company is authorized to issue from 400 million to 800 million,

(iii) FOR the proposal to ratify the appointment of RBSM, LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021;

(iv) FOR the approval of the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan; and

(v) unless otherwise restricted by law, in the discretion of the proxies named in the proxy on any other proposals to properly come before the Annual Meeting or any adjournment(s) thereof.

The Company is unaware of any additional matters not set forth in the Notice that will be presented for consideration at the Annual Meeting.

VOTING RIGHTS

All voting rights are vested exclusively in the holders of Common Stock. Only holders of Common Stock of record at the close of business on April 12, 2021 (the “Record Date”) are entitled to receive notice of and to vote at the Annual Meeting. As of the Record Date, there were a total of approximately 242,000,000 shares of Common Stock outstanding. Each holder of Common Stock entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting is entitled to one vote for each share held.

Stockholders holding a majority of the Common Stock issued and outstanding as of the Record Date, present or by proxy at the Annual Meeting, will constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at the Annual Meeting or any adjournment(s) thereof. Broker non-votes and abstentions are counted as shares present at the Annual Meeting for purposes of determining a quorum.

For Proposal No. 1 (Election of Directors), each nominee for election as a director must receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by the holders of our common stock, present in person or represented by proxy at the Annual Meeting and entitled to vote on the proposal. Votes may be cast in favor of or against the election of each nominee. Broker non-votes and abstentions will not be counted as votes cast and will have no effect on the outcome of the vote for directors.

For Proposal No. 2 (Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation), approval requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting power of the outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon and abstentions will be counted as a vote “Against” the proposal. If your shares are held in street name and you do not give voting instructions, the record holder may nevertheless be entitled to vote your shares with respect to Proposal No. 2 in the discretion of the record holder.

For Proposal No. 3 (Ratification of RBSM, LLP), ratification of the appointment of RBSM LLP as our independent registered public accounting for the year ending December 31, 2021 requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting power of the outstanding common stock present in person or represented by proxy at the Annual Meeting and entitled to vote thereon. Abstentions will be counted as a vote “AGAINST” this proposal. Broker non-votes will not affect the outcome of this proposal. The proposal to ratify the appointment of RBSM, LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 (Proposal No. 3) is considered a routine matter on which banks, brokers and other nominees may vote in their discretion on behalf of beneficial owners who have not provided voting instructions.

For Proposal No. 4 (2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan), approval of the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares having voting power present in person or by proxy is required for approval of the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan. Broker non-votes and abstentions will not affect the outcome of the voting.

If you hold shares in a brokerage account, brokers are not entitled to vote on Proposal No. 1 and Proposal No. 4 in the absence of specific client instructions. Stockholders who hold shares in a brokerage account are encouraged to provide voting instructions to their broker. To vote shares held in “street name” at the Annual Meeting, you should contact your broker before the Annual Meeting to obtain a proxy form in your name. Under the rules that govern brokers who have record ownership of shares that are held in “street name” for their clients, who are the beneficial owners of the shares, brokers have discretion to vote these shares on “routine” matters, but not on non-routine matters. Proposals No. 1 and No. 4 are considered non-routine matters on which banks, brokers and other nominees are not allowed to vote unless they have received voting instructions from the beneficial owner of the shares. Your bank, broker or other nominee will send you instructions on how you can instruct them to vote on these proposals. If you do not provide voting instructions, your bank, broker or other nominee will not vote your shares on this proposal. Therefore, your broker will not have discretionary authority to vote your shares with respect to Proposals No. 1 and No. 4.

A “broker non-vote” occurs when the broker does not receive voting instructions from the beneficial owner with respect to a non-routine matter and therefore the broker expressly indicates on a proxy card that it is not voting on a matter. Abstentions will have the effect of a negative vote.

If your shares are held in street name and you do not give voting instructions, the record holder may nevertheless be entitled to vote your shares with respect to Proposal No. 2 in the discretion of the record holder. The increase in the number of shares of authorized common stock would be used to meet the ongoing capital requirements, finance future acquisition opportunities through issuance or sale of common stock and ensure availability of shares, as needed, for issuance in connection with equity compensation plans, stock splits, stock dividends, options, warrants, rights, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes.

The proposal to ratify the appointment of RBSM, LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 (Proposal No. 3) is considered a routine matter on which banks, brokers and other nominees may vote in their discretion on behalf of beneficial owners who have not provided voting instructions. Your bank, broker or other nominee will send you instructions on how you can instruct them to vote on these proposals. If you do not provide voting instructions, your bank, broker or other nominee will have discretionary authority to vote your shares with respect to the Proposal No. 3.

How Can I Vote?

There are three convenient methods for registered stockholders to direct their vote by proxy:

• Vote by Internet. You can vote via the Internet. The website address for Internet voting is provided on your Notice or proxy card (www.voteproxy.com). You will need to use the control number appearing on your Notice or proxy card to vote via the Internet. You can use the Internet to transmit your voting instructions up until the closing of the polls during the Annual Meeting webinar around 2:00 P.M. CST on June 9, 2021. Internet voting is available 24 hours a day. If you vote via the Internet, you do NOT need to vote by telephone or return a proxy card.

• Vote by Telephone. You can also vote by telephone by calling the toll-free telephone number provided on the Internet link on your Notice or on your proxy card [1-800-PROXIES (1-800-776-9437) in the United States and Canada or 1-718-921-8500 from other countries]. You will need to use the control number appearing on your Notice or proxy card to vote by telephone. You may transmit your voting instructions from any touch-tone telephone up until the closing of the polls during the Annual Meeting webinar around 2:00 P.M. CST on June 9, 2021. Telephone voting is available 24 hours a day. If you vote by telephone, you do NOT need to vote over the Internet or return a proxy card.

• Vote by Mail. If you received a printed copy of the proxy card, you can vote by marking, dating and signing it, and returning it in the postage-paid envelope provided. Please promptly mail your proxy card to ensure that it is received prior to the closing of the polls at the Annual Meeting webinar.

Notice & Access — Request Paper Copies:

Telephone: 888-Proxy-NA (888-776-9962); 718-921-8562 (for international callers)

E-MAIL: info@astfinancial.com

WEBSITE: https://us.astfinancial.com/proxyservices/requestmaterials.asp

Webhosting site address: http://www.astproxyportal.com/ast/ZionOil/

STOCK OWNERSHIP OF MANAGEMENT AND CERTAIN BENEFICIAL HOLDERS

The following table sets forth information as of the Record Date concerning shares of our Common Stock beneficially owned by: (i) each director; (ii) each nominee for director, (iii) each Named Executive Officer (defined below); (iv) all directors and executive officers as a group; and (v) each person or group known by the Company to own beneficially more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock.

In accordance with SEC rules, the table considers all shares of Common Stock that could be issued upon the exercise of outstanding options and warrants within 60 days of the Record Date to be outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of the person holding those securities, but does not consider those securities to be outstanding for computing the percentage ownership of any other person. We have chosen to include the effect of the shares of Common Stock that could be issued upon the exercise of outstanding options and warrants through June 10, 2021. Unless otherwise noted in the footnotes to the table and subject to community property laws where applicable, the following individuals have sole voting and investment control with respect to the shares beneficially owned by them. Except as noted above, we have calculated the percentages of shares beneficially owned based on approximately 242,000,000 shares of Common Stock outstanding on the Record Date.

The address of John M. Brown, Robert Dunn, Michael B. Croswell Jr, Paul Oroian, Forrest A. Garb, William H. Avery, Martin M. van Brauman, Gene Scammahorn, Dr. Lee Russell, John Seery, Virginia Prodan, Brad Dacus and Kent Siegel is 12655 North Central Expressway, Suite 1000, Dallas, TX 75243 and the address for Dr. Amotz Agnon and Jeffrey Moskowitz is 9 Halamish Street, Caesarea, 3088900 Israel.

Name of Beneficial Owner	Amount and Nature of Beneficial Ownership		Percent of Class
John M. Brown(1)	1,215,000	(4)
John Seery	88,000	(5)
Michael B. Croswell Jr.	555,000	(6)
Forrest A. Garb	313,147	(7)(17)
William H. Avery	890,000	(8)
Paul Oroian	330,160	(9)
Virginia Prodan	75,000	(10)
Martin M. van Brauman	557,521	(11)
Gene Scammahorn	295,006	(12)
Kent Siegel(1)	290,000	(13)
Dr. Lee Russell	445,000	(14)
Dr. Amotz Agnon(1)	75,000	(2)
Jeffrey Moskowitz	280,000	(3)
Brad Dacus	76,000	(15)
Robert Dunn	275,000	(16)
Group Total*	5,759,834		2.4

____________

* Based on estimated 242,000,000 outstanding shares at Record Date

(1) Nominees for Class I Directors.

(2) Comprised of 75,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the stock option plans (the “Plans”) which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(3) Comprised of 280,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the stock option plans (the “Plans”) which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(4) Comprised of (a) 715,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Brown, (b) 100,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Brown’s wife and (c) 400,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the stock option plans (the “Plans”) which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(5) Comprised of (a) 13,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Seery and (b) 75,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of options awarded under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(6) Comprised of (a) 350,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Croswell and (b) 205,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the Plans, which are currently exercisable.

(7) Comprised of (a) 3,147 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Garb and (b) 310,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(8) Comprised of (a) 720,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Avery and (b) 170,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(9) Comprised of (a) 15,160 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Oroian and (b) 315,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of options awarded under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(10) Comprised of 75,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Ms. Prodan issuable upon exercise of options awarded under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(11) Comprised of (a) 349,934 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. van Brauman, plus 2,587 shares jointly held with his wife and (b) 205,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the Plans, which are currently exercisable.

(12) Comprised of (a) 10,006 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Scammahorn and (b) 285,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of options awarded to Mr. Scammahorn under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(13) Comprised of (a) 5,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Siegel and (b) 285,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of options awarded to Mr. Siegel under the Plans which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(14) Comprised of (a) 40,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Dr. Russell and (b) 405,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the Plans, which are currently exercisable.

(15) Comprised of 75,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the stock option plans, which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date. Mr. Dacus with his wife jointly hold 1,000 shares of Common Stock.

(16) Comprised of (a) 50,000 shares of Common Stock owned by Mr. Dunn and (b) 225,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of stock options awarded under the stock option plans, which are currently exercisable or that become exercisable within 60 days following the Record Date.

(17) Mr. Forrest Garb passed away on April 10, 2021

COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

Zion Oil and Gas, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is an oil and gas exploration company with a history of 21 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 Market under the symbol “ZNOG” and our Common Stock warrant under the symbol “ZNOGW.”

The Company currently holds one active petroleum exploration license onshore Israel, the New Megiddo License 428, which was granted on December 3, 2020 and overlaps the previous Megiddo-Jezreel License 401, comprising approximately 99,000 acres. The terms of the new license are effective through June 2, 2021 and is extendable for a six-month period.

The Megiddo Jezreel #1 (“MJ #1”) site was completed in early March 2017, after which the drilling rig and associated equipment were mobilized to the site. Performance and endurance tests were completed, and the MJ #1 exploratory well was spud on June 5, 2017 and drilled to a total depth (“TD”) of 5,060 meters (approximately 16,600 feet). Thereafter, the Company obtained three open-hole wireline log suites (including a formation image log), and the well was successfully cased and cemented. The Ministry of Energy approved the well testing protocol on April 29, 2018.

During the fourth quarter of 2018, the Company testing protocol was concluded at the MJ #1 well. The test results confirmed that the MJ #1 well did not contain hydrocarbons in commercial quantities in the zones tested. As a result, in the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company recorded a non-cash impairment charge to its unproved oil and gas properties of $30,906,000. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company did not record any post-impairment charges. The Company recorded a post-impairment charge of $314,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019.

While the well was not commercially viable, Zion learned a great deal from the drilling and testing of this well. We believe that the drilling and testing of this well carried out the testing objectives which would support further evaluation and potential further exploration efforts within our License area. Zion believed it was prudent and consistent with good industry practice to try and answer some of these questions with a focused 3-D seismic imaging shoot of approximately 72 square kilometers surrounding the MJ#1 well. As of the date of this report, Zion has completed all of the acquisition, processing and interpretation of the 3-D data and has incorporated its expanded knowledge base into the drilling of our current drilling MJ-02 exploratory well.

On March 12, 2020, Zion entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with Central European Drilling kft, a Hungarian corporation, to purchase an onshore oil and gas drilling rig, drilling pipe, related equipment and spare parts for a purchase price of $5.6 million in cash, subject to acceptance testing and potential downward adjustment. We remitted to the Seller $250,000 on February 6, 2020 as earnest money towards the Purchase Price. The Closing anticipated by the Agreement took place on March 12, 2020 by the Seller’s execution and delivery of a Bill of Sale to us. On March 13, 2020, the Seller retained the earnest money deposit, and the Company remitted $4,350,000 to the seller towards the purchase price and $1,000,000 (the “Holdback Amount”) was deposited in escrow with American Stock Transfer and Trust Company LLC. On January 6, 2021, Zion completed its acceptance testing of the I-35 drilling rig and the Holdback Amount was remitted to Central European Drilling.

The MJ-02 drilling plan was approved by the Ministry of Energy on July 29, 2020. On January 6, 2021, Zion officially spudded its MJ-02 exploratory well. Zion plans to reach a total depth of approximately 5,800 meters (~19,024 feet) and the drilling is expected to take approximately 150 days.

As of the date of this report, our drilling of the MJ-02 well is continuing as planned.

At present, we have no revenues or operating income. Our ability to generate future revenues and operating cash flow will depend on the successful exploration and exploitation of our current and any future petroleum rights or the acquisition of oil and/or gas producing properties, and the volume and timing of such production. In addition, even if we are successful in producing oil and gas in commercial quantities, our results will depend upon commodity prices for oil and gas, as well as operating expenses including taxes and royalties.

Our executive offices are located at 12655 North Central Expressway, Suite 1000, Dallas, Texas 75243, and our telephone number is (214) 221-4610. Our branch office’s address in Israel is 9 Halamish Street, North Industrial Park, Caesarea 3088900, and the telephone number is +972-4-623-8500. Our website address is: www.zionoil.com.

On June 30, 2018, we become a smaller reporting company. On August 31, 2020, the Company transitioned from the NASDAQ Capital Market to the OTC Markets. Along with the required letter to NASDAQ informing them of the requested delisting and transition to OTCQX, the Company sent a letter to the Hearings Advisor, Office of the General Counsel, requesting that the Company delist from the Capital Market and the Company withdrew its appeal of the Staff’s delist determination in order to move to OTCQX. As a result, the Company’s shares were suspended at the open of business on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 on NASDAQ and began trading on OTCQX on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 under the symbol “ZNOG.” The Company warrant “ZNAA” is traded under the symbol “ZNOGW” on the OTCQX.

Robert W.A. Dunn, effective May 1, 2019, joined the Company and assumed the duties on June 13, 2019 as the Chief Operations Officer and the exploration responsibilities and activities. On June 11, 2020, he assumed the duties of the Chief Executive Officer, while retaining the position of Chief Operations Officer. Mr. John Brown remained as Executive Chairman, but stepped down from the position of CEO on June 11, 2020.

Our “Named Executive Officers” as of December 31, 2020 were:

• John M. Brown — Executive Board Chairman (EC);

• Robert W.A. Dunn — Chief Executive Officer (CEO);

• Michael B. Croswell Jr. — Chief Financial Officer (CFO);

• William H. Avery — President.

This section describes the principles, policies, and practices that formed the foundation of our compensation program early in calendar year 2020 by the Compensation Committee and explains how such applied to our Named Executive Officers for calendar year 2020, who are included in the Summary Compensation Table provided below.

Our Board of Directors has overall responsibility for establishing compensation for our directors and executive officers. Our Board has delegated to the Compensation Committee of the Board the responsibility for establishing, implementing and monitoring adherence with our compensation philosophy with respect to our executive officers. The Compensation Committee ensures that the total compensation paid to our executive officers is fair, reasonable and competitive.

Our Executive Compensation Philosophy and Objectives

We have been engaged in the exploration of oil and gas in onshore Israel since 2000 and continue to face a very challenging environment. Our ultimate success will depend, in part, upon our talented employees and the leadership provided by our Named Executive Officers. We have designed our executive compensation program to achieve the following objectives:

• Attract and retain highly qualified talent. We need to attract, motivate, and retain management talent of high quality in a competitive market.

• Align the interests of our executives with stockholders. We should align the interests of Zion’s management and stockholders, towards the Company’s overall success, by planning and working towards multi-well, long-term exploration and drilling programs in Israel, aimed at discovering and producing commercial quantities of oil and gas.

• Manage resources efficiently. Employee compensation is a significant expense for us. We strive to manage our compensation programs so as to balance our need to reward and retain executives with our goal of preserving stockholder value. In addition, given the importance of preserving cash reserves for our exploration program, we seek to provide executives with significant equity compensation in order to encourage them to accept lower cash compensation than they might be able to receive elsewhere

Zion’s executive compensation programs are designed to compensate individual management personnel based on a number of factors, including:

• the individual’s position and responsibilities within the Company;

• the overall importance of the individual’s responsibilities in helping the Company achieve success:

• specific tasks that the individual may be required to perform during a particular time period;

• the individual’s skill set, experience and education;

• market conditions, as measured by (among other things) feedback from recruiters and the Company’s knowledge of peer company compensation policies;

• geographical considerations, including the cost of living associated with the USA and Israel, where the Company’s offices are located;

• advice from third party economic consulting and compensation firms;

• the Company’s performance in areas for which the individual has responsibility; and

• the Company’s overall performance in its mission.

Components of Compensation

In an effort to meet these objectives, our executive compensation program consists of the following components:

• Base Salary. The Compensation Committee believes that base salary should provide executives with a predictable income sufficient to attract and retain strong talent in a competitive marketplace. We generally strive to set executive base salaries at levels that we believe enable us to hire and retain individuals in a competitive environment.

• Equity Award. The Compensation Committee believes that long-term equity incentives, such as stock options, focus executives on increasing long-term shareholder value.

• Discretionary Cash Bonus Award. The Compensation Committee has historically awarded cash bonuses on occasion to reward significant individual contributions or to act as an incentive.

• General Benefits. We provide generally competitive benefits packages, such as medical, life and disability insurance, to our executives on the same terms as our other employees.

Our Process of Establishing Executive Compensation

The Compensation Committee typically reviews our executive officers’ compensation on an annual basis. Our CEO recommends to the Compensation Committee the goals, objectives and compensation for all executive officers, except himself, and responds to requests for information from the Compensation Committee. Except for these roles, Zion’s executive officers do not have a role in approving goals and objectives or in determining compensation of executive officers or non-employee directors. Our CEO has no role in approving his own compensation. The Compensation Committee periodically reviews the compensation of non-employee directors, primarily by reference to the compensation of non-employee directors at similarly situated companies.

Consistent with its charter, the Compensation Committee has utilized the services of an independent corporate consultant company to provide assistance with regard to reasonable compensation ranges. For our Company, the most relevant comparison metric was market capitalization (“market cap”), and the Compensation Committee identified 14 companies beginning in early 2020 in the oil and gas exploration and production field that had an average market cap of between $18 and $98 million to compare to Zion’s market cap during the first half in 2020 of $43 million, in which the Compensation Committee took into consideration the average Company market cap based upon the recommendations of the independent corporate consultant company.

Market capitalization was used as the most relevant comparison metric, since Zion was a development stage company with neither production nor revenue and had no additional operating metrics to use for comparison purposes.

Compensation Analysis

For purposes of the analysis, in order to make an assessment for our named executive officers, data on comparable companies (the “Peer Group”) was selected based on their size, industry segment, and stage of development. The group was selected from a list of all companies that are part of the oil and gas drilling and exploration industry. We used the Global Industry Classification Standard (“GICS”) to assess industry proximity with respect to the industry group and sub-industry. We identified similar companies within our sub-industry for possible peer relationships, and we compared company size with regards to market cap. The Peer Group was approved by the Compensation Committee as representative of the sector in which we operate. This criterion was effective in yielding an appropriate survey and benchmark group.

With respect to general compensation comparisons for 2020, the selected Peer Group constituted for second quarter of 2020 were the below 14 companies, based upon a re-evaluation by the Compensation Committee. The Committee re-evaluation was based upon an independent advisory firm, in which the Company set the market cap at $43.3 million. The Committee selected the final 14 Peer Companies on the bases of availability of compensation data. There are 7 continuing peer companies from 2019 and 7 new peer companies for 2020.

1. Battalion Oil Corporation

2. Chaparral Energy, Inc.

3. Earthstone Energy, Inc.

4. Evolution Petroleum Corporation

5. Goodrich Petroleum Corporation

6. Highpoint Resources Corporation

7. Independent Contract Drilling, Inc.

8. Lonestar Resources US, Inc.

9. Panhandle Oil and Gas, Inc.

10. Penn Virginia Corporation

11. Ring Energy, Inc.

12. SandRidge Energy, Inc.

13. SilverBow Resources, Inc.

14. VAALCO Energy, Inc.

Using the market capitalization range based upon the Company’s market capitalization within the appropriate peer connections in the GICS industry group, the Peer Group was determined. Then, compensation ranges of each specified executive position within the Peer Group were determined and compared with the actual and projected compensation numbers from the Company. Thus, compensation information on the Peer Group was collected and statistically analyzed relative to Zion’s market capitalization, and then the Compensation Committee reached conclusions with regard to the compensation range of Zion’s senior officer management team for 2020.

The analysis focuses on four key officer positions regarding the proposed compensation paid by Zion for all officers as a whole and for the individual positions as compared to the Peer Group. The three key officer positions were the Executive Board Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the President.

Total compensation for executives generally consisted of the following five categories: (1) Cash salaries; (2) Cash bonuses; (3) Stock awards; (4) Stock options; and (5) Other. Although some of the total pay amounts may represent actual dollars paid to the CEO and other key officers, other amounts are estimates based on certain assumptions or they may represent dollar amounts recognized for financial statement reporting purposes in accordance with accounting rules, but do not represent actual dollars received (e.g., dollar values of stock awards).

With respect to a three-year performance and pay rankings for Zion and the peer companies, Zion was at the lower range of relative pay and performance rank compared to the Peer Group. Also, Table I illustrates over a three-, two-, and one-year period that the compensation of CEOs from the Peer Group was higher when petroleum prices were higher than the compensation for Zion’s CEO. Further, the absolute pay packages of the Peer Group were much greater than Zion’s pay package over each year. The below compensation amounts are based upon the 2020 proxy statements subsequently filed by the peer companies, which reported total compensation for 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Table 1: Total Annual CEO Compensation Averages

COMPANY	TOTAL PAY 2017	TOTAL PAY 2018	TOTAL PAY 2019
Zion Oil & Gas, Inc.	438,775	447,902	296,325
Battalion Oil Corporation		2,946,816	5,194,800
Chaparral Energy, Inc.	11,600,266	1,233,708	3,593,120
Earthstone Energy, Inc.	1,641,370	2,941,250	3,791,451
Evolution Petroleum Corporation	1,055,919	1,072,954	N/A
Goodrich Petroleum Corporation	3,631,230	965,240	1,185,158
Highpoint Resources Corp	3,978,015	4,411,736	4,870,568
Independent Contract Drilling, Inc.	N/A	2,703,534	1,532,435
Lonestar Resources US Inc.	2,591,441	2,195,742	2,459,114
Panhandle Oil and Gas, Inc.	935,868	989,120	1,596,201
Penn Virginia Corporation	5,126,059	867,985	882,720
Ring Energy, Inc.	847,240	666,615	N/A
SandRidge Energy, Inc.	2,622,445	2,978,538	1,783,506
SilverBow Resources, Inc.	4,490,084	4,019,626	1,792,434
VAALCO Energy, Inc.	908,661	1,400,695	1,543,103

The Peer Group was large enough to make the comparison about Zion’s compensation relative to the Named Executive Officers’ (“NEO’s”) compensation packages of companies in the Peer Group. Also, the percentage of total NEO’s compensation to Zion’s market capitalization is one of the variables of interest, which shows Zion’s compensation packages very much below the average of the Peer Group. The Company used an average of its daily closing market caps over the first half of 2020, along with average market caps of its peer group.

Table 2: Total NEO Compensation to Market Cap

Company	Total NEO Compensation	Market Cap (millions)	Percentage
Zion Oil & Gas, Inc.	1,472,898	43	3
Battalion Oil Corp	11,314,854	76	15
Chaparral Energy, Inc.	10,715,797	20	54
Earthstone Energy, Inc.	8,182,058	64	13
Evolution Petroleum Corporation	824,759	90	1
Goodrich Petroleum Corporation	3,912,736	98	4
Highpoint Resources Corporation	11,678,394	70	4
Independent Contract Drilling, Inc.	3,759,873	27	14
Lonestar Resources US Inc.	4,699,895	18	26
Panhandle Oil and Gas, Inc.	3,072,677	22	14
Penn Virginia Corporation	3,062,329	91	3
Ring Energy, Inc.	N/A	59
SandRidge Energy, Inc.	4,293,882	71