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Genie Energy Ltd.
Company typePublic
NYSE: GNE (Class B)
Russell Microcap Index component
IndustryOil and gas industry
Electricity
FounderHoward Jonas
Headquarters
Newark, New Jersey
,
United States
Key people
Michael Stein (CEO)
Avi Goldin (CFO)
Geoff Rochwarger (Vice Chairman)
Michael Stein (COO and CEO of Genie Retail Energy)
RevenueUS$280.30 million (2018)[1]
US$9.02 million (2018)[1]
US$22.78 million (2018)[1]
Total assetsUS$146.86 million (2018)[1]
Total equityUS$92.66 million (2018)[1]
SubsidiariesGenie Retail Energy
Genie Oil and Gas
Websitewww.genie.com

Genie Energy Ltd. is an American energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. It is a holding company comprising Genie Retail Energy, Genie Retail Energy International, Genie Energy Services, and Genie Energy Oil and Gas. Michael Stein is the Chief Executive Officer, Genie Energy Ltd.[2]

In 2004, seeking to diversify, IDT Telecom’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, Howard Jonas, launched its first Retail Energy Provider or “REP” and enrolled its first energy supply customers. Then, in October, 2011, Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE:GNE), was spun-off from IDT Corporation as an independent public company, at which point Class B common stock of Genie Energy Ltd. began trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "GNE".

Genie's founder and chairman is Howard Jonas. Michael Stein is the company's Chief Executive Officer of Genie Energy and Chief Executive Officer of Genie Retail Energy. Avi Goldin serves as the company's CFO.

The president of its Israeli subsidiary is Effie Eitam. Genie Energy's Strategic advisory board is composed of: Dick Cheney since 2009 (former vice president of the United States),[3] Rupert Murdoch (media mogul and chairman of News Corp), James Woolsey (former CIA director), Larry Summers (former head of the US Treasury), Michael Steinhardt, Jacob Rothschild,[4][5] and Mary Landrieu, former United States Senator from Louisiana.

In 2013, IDT Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of Genie Energy, acquired both Dallas-based Diversegy, LLC a commercial energy advisory and its network marketing channel, Epiq Energy. They are now wholly owned subsidiaries of Genie Energy Ltd.[6]

Genie Retail Energy

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Genie Retail Energy (GRE) comprises the company’s domestic electricity and natural gas supply companies. Commonly referred to as “Retail Energy Providers” or “REPs”, these companies offer traditional and renewable/green energy supply options to residential and small/medium commercial clients throughout deregulated energy states in the United States. GRE companies purchase electricity and natural gas in the wholesale markets which it resells to residential and small business customers in New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Delaware, Texas, Maryland, and Washington, DC. Commercial natural gas supply customers are also served in the state of Florida. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including fixed rate and variable rate energy supply plans, traditional and green electricity options, and clean, carbon offset natural gas programs. Like other REP's, GRE companies compete against incumbent electric and gas utilities as well as over 100 or more other REPs.

In November 2016, Genie Energy acquired Retail Energy Holdings, LLC. (REH), and added REH's brand, Town Square Energy, and meters to Genie Retail Energy's portfolio.[7] In August 2017, Genie Energy announced a joint venture to enter the retail energy market and begin customer acquisition in the United Kingdom.[8] Also in August 2017, Genie Retail Energy acquired Mirabito Natural Gas, a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based natural gas supplier to commercial customers.[9]

In January 2019, Genie Retail Energy acquired a majority stake in Lumo Energia, a Finnish supplier of renewable electricity,[10] and earlier this year launched Genie Energy Japan, offering customers a variety of high value electricity supply products in the dynamic Japanese retail market.

In 2022 Lumo unilaterally terminated fixed term and fixed price electricity deals of c. 8,000 consumers, thus causing financial damages of even thousands of Euros to each customer. Lumo offered 2 cent/kWh compensation, equaling few million Euros, while selling electricity derivative assets for €30 million. Finnish consumer protection authority regarded this compensation as inadequate.[11] [12]

Genie Oil and Gas

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Genie Oil and Gas (GOGAS) explored for conventional oil in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights through its Afek Oil and Gas subsidiary, and pursued oil shale projects through American Shale Oil (AMSO), Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI) and Genie Energy Mongolia. AMSO, IEI, and Genie Energy Mongolia are no longer active. 89% of GOGAS was owned by Genie Energy while Jacob Rothschild, Michael Steinhardt and Rupert Murdoch among others held minority interests.[13][14][15]

Afek Oil and Gas

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In February 2013, Israeli authorities awarded Afek Oil and Gas an exclusive 36-month petroleum exploration license to a 153-square-mile (400 km2) plot in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which the UN recognizes to be Syrian territory.[16][17][18][19] Afek subsequently conducted above-ground geophysical tests and based on its preliminary analysis, has applied for a ten well exploratory drilling program.[20] South of Katzrin in the southern Golan Heights in 2015, Afek discovered a substantial amount of oil and natural gas reserves which would make Israel energy self-sufficient.[a][21][22][23] The company had drilled a series of exploratory wells including Ness-5, just northwest of the Avnei Eitan and Nov moshavim and south of Kibbutz Natur and the town of Katzrin; Ness-3, near the Bnei Yehuda industrial area; Ness-6, located near the entrance of Moshav Kanaf, just southeast of Gamla;[24] and Ness 10 north of the Sheikh-Ali Fault. In November 2017, the company announced that it suspended its exploratory drilling program as the well's target zone does not contain commercially producible quantities of oil or natural gas.[25]

Human rights groups have said the drilling violates international law as Golan Heights is an occupied territory.[26]

American Shale Oil

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Main article: American Shale Oil

American Shale Oil (AMSO) was a joint venture between Genie Energy and Total S.A.[27] Genie announced in May 2016 that the partners were closing the venture.[28] and its pilot plant facilities located outside of Rifle, Colorado, were subsequently decommissioned and removed. AMSO received in 2006 a Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) lease from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Colorado's Piceance Basin in order to develop a process for generating oil and gas from deep buried oil shale.[29] The lease comprised a tract of 160 acres (65 ha), and was granted for an initial term of 10 years with the possibility of up to a 5-year extension upon proof of diligent progress toward commercial production.[30] AMSO's tech team was headed by Dr. Alan Burnham, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.[31] AMSO's proposed technology was called CCR (Conduction, Convection, Reflux).[29]

Israel Energy Initiatives

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Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI) was founded in 2008 to develop oil shale in Israel. In July 2011, the company received a one-year extension of a three-year license to explore oil shale resources on 238 square kilometres (92 sq mi) in Israel's Shefela region.[32] In September 2014, a government planning committee rejected a building permit for the project. The committee decision essentially killed the project, as IEI did not pursue any means of appeal.[33] By the time of the committee ruling most of the staff of IEI, including Chief Scientist Harold Vinegar, had moved to work at the sister company, Afek.

IEI planned to use In-Situ Conversion Process technology for its pilot project, following the format a 1995 trial by Royal Dutch Shell. Shell subsequently shut down its work on developing the technology.

Israel's major environmental organizations, including the Jewish National Fund, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, Greenpeace, and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense protested against 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 led the campaign to stop the IEI work, citing both the environmental damage and the questionable economic value of the project.[34]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ As of 2015, Israel consumes 270,000 barrels of oil per day.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Annual Report 2018" (PDF). Genie Energy. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  2. ^ "Michael Stein Chief Executive Officer, Genie Energy Ltd profile". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  3. ^ "Oil in the Levant attracts intermediaries: Impending oil exploration in the strategic Golan Heights and off the coast of Lebanon has inspired a number of ex-political figures to hone their advisory skills". Intelligence Online. 27 February 2013. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Business and Financial Leaders Lord Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch Invest in Genie Oil & Gas". Business Wire. 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  5. ^ "Black gold under the Golan". The Economist. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Genie Retail Energy Acquires Retail Energy Holdings, LLC". Genie Energy Press Release.
  7. ^ "Genie Energy Launches JV to Pursue UK Retail Energy Market". Genie Energy press release. August 2, 2017.
  8. ^ "Genie Energy acquires Florida-based commercial natural gas supplier". Your Oil and Gas News. August 15, 2017. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017.
  9. ^ "Genie Energy acquires Finnish renewable power supplier Lumo Energia". Renewable Now. 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
  10. ^ "Sähkö | Lumo Energia kaatui, ja nyt entisille asiakkaille tulee jopa tuhansien eurojen lisälasku – "Naurettava", kuvaa asiakas yhtiön reaktiota". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  11. ^ "Lumo Energia lopetti korvausneuvottelut kuluttaja-asiamiehen pyydettyä olennaisia tietoja yhtiön taloustilanteesta". Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto (in Finnish). 2022-10-21. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  12. ^ "Business and Financial Leaders Lord Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch Invest in Genie Oil & Gas" (Press release). IDT Corporation. 2010-11-15. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  13. ^ "Michael Steinhardt to Become Chairman of IDT Corporation Subsidiary, Israel Energy Initiatives" (Press release). IDT Corporation. 2010-04-19. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  14. ^ Barkat, Amiram (2010-11-22). "Murdoch, Rothschild invest in Israeli shale oil". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  15. ^ Kelley, Michael (February 22, 2013). "Israel Grants First Golan Heights Oil Drilling License To Dick Cheney-Linked Company". Business Insider. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Israel approves drilling for oil in Golan Heights". The Jerusalem Post. 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  17. ^ Barkat, Amiram (20 February 2013). "Israel awards first Golan oil drilling license". Globes. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  18. ^ "N.J. firm wins original rights to drill in Golan Heights". JTA. 21 February 2013. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  19. ^ "Genie Energy Reports First Quarter 2014 Results" (PDF) (Press release). Genie Energy. 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2015-12-01.[permanent dead link]
  20. ^ a b Graeber, Daniel J (7 October 2015). "Israel upbeat on Golan oil potential: Israeli company estimates reserve column 10 times larger than global average". UPI. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Huge oil discovery on Golan Heights: Estimates are that the amount of oil found will make Israel self sufficient for very many years to come". Globes. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  22. ^ Graeber, Daniel J (9 October 2015). "Major reserve discovery confirmed in the southern Golan Heights: Leadership of company behind the find seen as close to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu". UPI. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  23. ^ Udasin, Sharon (7 October 2015). "Still too soon to determine production potential of Golan Heights oil: Afek Oil and Gas say findings have so far revealed a 'very robust oil-bearing strata'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  24. ^ "Genie Energy Suspends Exploratory Oil and Gas Drilling Program in Northern Israel" (Press release). Genie Energy. 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
  25. ^ Khoury, Jack (25 February 2016). "Human Rights Groups: Golan Oil Drilling Contravenes International Law". Haaretz. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  26. ^ "Total buys 50 pct stake in AMSO to sell shale oil". Reuters. January 14, 2009. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  27. ^ "First Quarter 2016 Results". Genie Energy. Archived from the original on February 11, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  28. ^ a b Secure Fuels from Domestic Resources: The Continuing Evolution of America's Oil Shale and Tar Sands Industries (PDF) (4th ed.). United States Department of Energy. 2010. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 27, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  29. ^ Andrews, Anthony (2008). Developments in Oil Shale (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. pp. 18–19. CRS RL34748. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  30. ^ "Alan K. Burnham Ph.D. Executive Profile". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved October 31, 2011.[dead link]
  31. ^ 10-k, IDT Corp, October 11, 2011
  32. ^ Udasin, Sharon (2014-09-02). "Jerusalem District Committee rejects Shefla basin oil shale pilot project". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  33. ^ Laylin, Tafline (2010-12-08). "Oil & Wine Don't Mix: Over 1,000 Israelis Protest Oil Shale In Adullam". Retrieved 2011-10-18.
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