Genie Energy
Encyclopedia
Genie Energy Ltd. is an energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey
. It is a holding company comprising IDT Energy, a retail energy provider, and Genie Oil & Gas, which controls the company's ventures in oil shale
research and development in Colorado
and Israel
. Genie is part of IDT Corporation. IDT intends to spin off Genie to its shareholders on October 31, 2011, at which point Class B common stock of Genie Energy Ltd. will begin trading on the NYSE
under the ticker symbol "GNE".
Genie's founder, chairman and controlling shareholder is Howard Jonas
. Claude Pupkin is the company's CEO, and Avi Goldin is its CFO. Geoffrey Rochwarger is Genie's vice chairman.
Genie previously announced a strategic advisory board whose members provide strategic direction and council. Its members include former Vice President Dick Cheney
, Michael Steinhardt
, Jacob Rothschild, and Rupert Murdoch
.
to residential and small business customers in New York
, New Jersey
, and Pennsylvania
. More than 100 ESCOs currently operate in that region. Unlike many of its competitors, IDT Energy does not offer long term, fixed price contracts. Nearly all of its customers are on variable rate plans and can change supplier at any time.
(AMSO) and Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI). 89% of GOGAS is owned by Genie Energy while Jacob Rothschild, Michael Steinhardt and Rupert Murdoch hold minority interests.
. AMSO plans to demonstrate that commercial quantities of oil can be produced through its in-situ technology which involves heating oil shale to over 650 °F (343.3 °C) to extract shale oil
.
in Colorado's Piceance Basin
. AMSO is one of six companies that have been granted BLM leases for the purpose of developing oil shale resources on public lands. Each lease comprises a tract of 160 acres (64.7 ha), as well as a preferential right to a contiguous area of 4960 acres (2,007.2 ha). The leases grant an initial term of 10 years and the possibility of up to a 5-year extension upon proof of diligent progress toward commercial production. RD&D lessees may apply to convert the leases plus the contiguous area to a 20-year commercial lease once commercial production levels have been achieved and additional requirements are met. AMSO estimates that the total BLM tract of 5120 acres (2,072 ha) contains 5 Goilbbl of oil equivalent in place, of which 5 Goilbbl is recoverable reserve.
. AMSO's proposed technology is called CCR (Conduction, Convection, Reflux).
. In July 2011, the company received a one year extension of a three year license to explore oil shale resources on 238 square kilometres (91.9 sq mi) in Israel's Shefela region
. The area contains large underground oil shale formations, which IEI estimates could potentially be converted to 40 Goilbbl of oil equivalent. IEI has completed geological surveys and tests in an appraisal stage and hopes to begin a pilot project during 2012. The pilot project would produced oil not before 2017. The pilot test is intended to prove the viability of the company's in-situ extraction technology.
The Israel Union for Environmental Defense
has petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel
to review the legality of the IEI license. The court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for April 2012.
, whereby 6 vertical wells for electrically heated rods were drilled in a hexagonal formation, with a production well placed at the center of the hexagon. IEI has also stated that subsequent development (conditioned on receiving a development lease) would be based on technology more similar to that proposed by sister company AMSO, including horizontal wells and injection of hot gas or fluids. The chief scientist at IEI is Harold Vinegar, former chief scientist for in-situ conversion processes with Royal Dutch Shell. Vinegar has claimed that proposed in-situ technology can produce oil at all-in costs of US$35-40 per barrel. However, according to Genie Energy's SEC filing, the company recognizes that it may not be able to develop technology that is environmentally acceptable and economically viable.
, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
, and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense have protested the IEI license. Environmental concerns include the potential for contaminating Israel's Shfela aquifer
, which runs underneath the Shfela oil shale formation, for destroying a rural region of Israel that currently promotes eco-tourism, and for reversing Israel's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Residents of the local community of Adullam
and their supporters have also mounted a campaign to stop the IEI work, citing both the environmental damage and the questionable economic value of the project.
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. It is a holding company comprising IDT Energy, a retail energy provider, and Genie Oil & Gas, which controls the company's ventures in oil shale
Oil shale
Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...
research and development in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Genie is part of IDT Corporation. IDT intends to spin off Genie to its shareholders on October 31, 2011, at which point Class B common stock of Genie Energy Ltd. will begin trading on the NYSE
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
under the ticker symbol "GNE".
Genie's founder, chairman and controlling shareholder is Howard Jonas
Howard Jonas
Howard S. Jonas is the founder of IDT Corp.Jonas founded IDT Corp. in August 1990 and has served as Chairman of the Board since its inception...
. Claude Pupkin is the company's CEO, and Avi Goldin is its CFO. Geoffrey Rochwarger is Genie's vice chairman.
Genie previously announced a strategic advisory board whose members provide strategic direction and council. Its members include former Vice President Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
, Michael Steinhardt
Michael Steinhardt
Michael H. Steinhardt is an American investor and philanthropist active in Jewish causes. He was one of the first prominent hedge fund managers, and is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., a hedge fund, in 1967...
, Jacob Rothschild, and Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
.
IDT Energy
IDT Energy, founded in New York State in 2004, is a deregulated energy provider, or Energy Service Company (ESCO), that resells electricity and natural gasNatural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
to residential and small business customers in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. More than 100 ESCOs currently operate in that region. Unlike many of its competitors, IDT Energy does not offer long term, fixed price contracts. Nearly all of its customers are on variable rate plans and can change supplier at any time.
Genie Oil & Gas
Genie Oil & Gas (GOGAS) seeks to acquire and develop unconventional fuel resources including oil shale and develops innovative fuel extraction technologies to produce oil and natural gas. GOGAS consists of American Shale OilAmerican Shale Oil
The American Shale Oil, LLC , formerly known as EGL Oil Shale, LLC, is a developer of in-situ shale oil extraction technology. It is owned 50% each by Genie Oil and Gas, an affiliate of IDT Corporation, and Total S.A..-History:...
(AMSO) and Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI). 89% of GOGAS is owned by Genie Energy while Jacob Rothschild, Michael Steinhardt and Rupert Murdoch hold minority interests.
American Shale Oil
American Shale Oil (AMSO) is a 50/50 joint venture between IDT Corp and Total S.A.Total S.A.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...
. AMSO plans to demonstrate that commercial quantities of oil can be produced through its in-situ technology which involves heating oil shale to over 650 °F (343.3 °C) to extract shale oil
Shale oil
Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...
.
AMSO's BLM lease
AMSO holds a Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) lease from the U.S. Bureau of Land ManagementBureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
in Colorado's Piceance Basin
Piceance Basin
The Piceance Basin is a geologic structural basin in northwestern Colorado, in the United States. It includes geologic formations from Cambrian to Holocene in age, but the thickest section is made up of rocks from the Cretaceous Period...
. AMSO is one of six companies that have been granted BLM leases for the purpose of developing oil shale resources on public lands. Each lease comprises a tract of 160 acres (64.7 ha), as well as a preferential right to a contiguous area of 4960 acres (2,007.2 ha). The leases grant an initial term of 10 years and the possibility of up to a 5-year extension upon proof of diligent progress toward commercial production. RD&D lessees may apply to convert the leases plus the contiguous area to a 20-year commercial lease once commercial production levels have been achieved and additional requirements are met. AMSO estimates that the total BLM tract of 5120 acres (2,072 ha) contains 5 Goilbbl of oil equivalent in place, of which 5 Goilbbl is recoverable reserve.
AMSO technology
AMSO's tech team is headed by Dr. Alan Burnham, who joined AMSO after a 30 year career in oil shale research at Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
. AMSO's proposed technology is called CCR (Conduction, Convection, Reflux).
Israel Energy Initiatives
Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI) was founded in 2008 to develop oil shale in IsraelOil shale in Israel
Oil shale in Israel is widespread but an undeveloped resource, largely because of economic and technological constraints. Israeli oil shales belong to the group of Upper Cretaceous marinites. Although oil-shale deposits may lie under as much as 15% of the country, only a small part of these are...
. In July 2011, the company received a one year extension of a three year license to explore oil shale resources on 238 square kilometres (91.9 sq mi) in Israel's Shefela region
Shephelah
The Shephelah is a designation usually applied to the region in south-central Israel of 10-15 km of low hills between the central Mount Hebron and the coastal plains of Philistia within the area of the Judea, at an altitude of 120-450 metres above sea level. The area is fertile, and a temperate...
. The area contains large underground oil shale formations, which IEI estimates could potentially be converted to 40 Goilbbl of oil equivalent. IEI has completed geological surveys and tests in an appraisal stage and hopes to begin a pilot project during 2012. The pilot project would produced oil not before 2017. The pilot test is intended to prove the viability of the company's in-situ extraction technology.
The Israel Union for Environmental Defense
Israel Union for Environmental Defense
-Tel Aviv islands:In November 2002 the Israeli Government appointed a six-member committee to explore the financial feasibility of creating two islands off the coast of Tel Aviv. One of the islands would be for an airport, similar to the Kobe airport in Japan, and the other island would have...
has petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
to review the legality of the IEI license. The court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for April 2012.
IEI technology
IEI plans to use In Situ Conversion Process technology for its pilot project. The pilot will follow the format of a 1995 in-situ trial by Royal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, whereby 6 vertical wells for electrically heated rods were drilled in a hexagonal formation, with a production well placed at the center of the hexagon. IEI has also stated that subsequent development (conditioned on receiving a development lease) would be based on technology more similar to that proposed by sister company AMSO, including horizontal wells and injection of hot gas or fluids. The chief scientist at IEI is Harold Vinegar, former chief scientist for in-situ conversion processes with Royal Dutch Shell. Vinegar has claimed that proposed in-situ technology can produce oil at all-in costs of US$35-40 per barrel. However, according to Genie Energy's SEC filing, the company recognizes that it may not be able to develop technology that is environmentally acceptable and economically viable.
Environmental concerns
Israel's major environmental organizations, including the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel , or SPNI, is an Israeli non-profit environmental organization working to preserve plants, animals, and natural environments that represent bio-diversity, by protecting the lands and waters needed for their survival, and is Israel's oldest and...
, and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense have protested the IEI license. Environmental concerns include the potential for contaminating Israel's Shfela aquifer
Aquifer
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
, which runs underneath the Shfela oil shale formation, for destroying a rural region of Israel that currently promotes eco-tourism, and for reversing Israel's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Residents of the local community of Adullam
Adullam
Adullam is a region of Israel near the Valley of Elah , west of Gush Etzion. The villages of Aderet, Neve Michael/Roglit, and Aviezer are located here. In the 1950s there were plans to set up Adullam as a formal political/economic region, on the model of Lachish, but the plans were not carried out...
and their supporters have also mounted a campaign to stop the IEI work, citing both the environmental damage and the questionable economic value of the project.