ATP Oil & Gas Corp. and its wholly-owned subsidiary ATP East Med B.V. reported success at the Shimshon well in the Levant Basin offshore Israel. The Shimshon well encountered more than 62 ft (19 m) of natural gas pay in the Bet Guvrin sands.

The Shimshon well is in a water depth of 3,622 ft (1,104 m) and was drilled to a subsea depth of 14,445 ft (4,403 m). ATP expects to provide additional information about the discovery during 3Q 2012.

ATP East Med operates the well with a 40% working interest. Other interest owners in the well are Isramco Negev 2 LP (39%), Naphtha Exploration Ltd. Partnership (10%), INOC Dead Sea LP (10%), and I.O.C. Israel (1.0%).