Victor Carrillo, once Texas’ top oil and gas regulator, is out as chief executive of Zion Oil and Gas, a Dallas-based firm that looks to the Bible for clues about where to drill for oil in Israel.

Carrillo told the American-Statesman that it was "just time for me to move on," but his departure comes as the company is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At least a decade into operations, the company has yet to strike a producing well, and stock prices have recently tumbled.

Carrillo, who earned a master’s degree in geology before putting himself through law school, served as commissioner on the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator, from 2003 to 2011. In 2016, he told the Statesman his job as Zion’s chief executive officer was to "bring the geology that informs the theology."

"We make our plans for how and where to drill, but ultimately, the outcome, that’s in God’s hands," Carrillo said.

But so far, the Promised Land has been richer in milk and honey than in oil.

Read more about Zion Oil an Gas and the SEC’s investigation into the company at MyStatesman.com.