The Start of Israel’s Energy Independence
By Jerome Gordon, New English Review
Tamar Natural Gas Project Israel
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Israel-Jordan Oil Shale Map
Source Nobel Energy, Inc.
I noted that the mainstream media has neglected to inform the American public of Ha Shem’s great gift to Israel, the huge offshore natural gas fields about to begin production and the pilot tests of in situ oil extraction from the shale formation in the Shefla basin in 2013. Those Israel oil shale reserves might even rival those of Saudi Arabia. The development of these energy resources may enable Israel within this decade to become energy independent. Those offshore gas and on-shore oil shale developments have the potential of making Israel an energy independent political power in the Middle East and player in the world energy markets. The energy developments could pour billions of royalty revenues into a newly authorized Sovereign Wealth Fund that might significantly enhance the country’s high tech driven growth. Most importantly it would also provide the funds to enable the IDF to meet the threats arrayed against it.
We have written a number of Iconoclast and NER articles about both of these energy developments: Among them were:
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“Could Israel’s Oil Shale Development be a Game Changer in World Geo-Politics?” ( June 2011), “Israel’s Black Gold- an Interview with Scott Nguyen” [ of Israeli Energy Initiatives" (IEI)] (October 2011) and “Will Israel Win the Energy Prize in the Levant basin?”(December 2011)
In the waning days of 2012, two key announcements of energy developments in Israel augur well for making 2013 the start of Israel’s drive for energy independence and wealth creation.
On December 24, 2012, the high court in Israel turned down a petition that would have prevented the start of a pilot oil shale extraction project for Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), the subsidiary of NYSE-listed, Genie Energy, Ltd. (GNE). Note what this RTT report said about this Israeli high court decision:
- The Supreme Court of Israel has rejected a petition filed by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense against various ministries of the State of Israel, Israel Energy Initiatives and another Israeli oil and gas company, seeking to cancel the regulations governing the permitting process of oil and gas exploration, and seeking to cancel the exploration license granted to Israel Energy Initiatives.
- In October, the court had rejected a previous petition filed by the Union challenging the issuance of exploratory licenses, including Israel Energy Initiatives’ license, issued pursuant to those regulations.
- “The court’s latest decision clears a major legal roadblock and enables this nationally important project to move forward to the permitting phase,” Israel Energy Initiatives said in a statement.
- Israel Energy Initiatives said that it now looks forward to the issuance of regulations by the Ministry of Energy that will enable it to prepare the environmental documents needed to file its pilot test permit application with the Jerusalem District Planning Committee.
This development clears the way for IEI’s pilot tests in the Shefla basin. Dr. Scott Nguyen, Vice President for Technology at IEI in our published NER interview noted what will ensue given this important Israeli court decision:
Nguyen
- : The test phase will be conducted in 2012, once we have received permits and approvals from the Planning Committee in Jerusalem.
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In 2013 we will have our first drop of Israeli oil from shale in Israel, and the test phase will end in 2014. After that, we’ll start planning for commercial scale production. Our first goal is to get 50,000 barrels per day, i.e. one fifth of the Israeli market, both civil and military.
Next, we will continue on a larger scale. Israel has enough resources to be fully independent. We could provide 250,000 barrels per day by the next decade. Towards the end of this decade, we will be able to deliver 50,000 barrels per day, and increase slowly to 250,000 barrels per day. This is a project that requires significant investment to reach that production target.
Nguyen’s IEI senior colleague Dr. Harold Vinegar, former chief scientist and a 30 year veteran of unconventional oil developments at Shell Oil in Houston, discussed their development at a Globes Israel Business Conference in mid-December 2012. Dr. Vinegar discussed why Israel’s oil shale formation lends itself to non-polluting oil extraction and the significance of the Shefla basin oil production technology. He noted why the start of natural gas deliveries from Israel’s offshore platforms is an important complement. The gas would be used to heat the shale for release of oil at an efficient market price of less than $40 a barrel. A veritable win-win situation.
The Elders of Ziyon blog in a post noted that Dr. Vinegar said, “another Middle Eastern country that doesn’t have much in the way of traditional oil reserves is also sitting on top of huge oil shale deposits”:
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Jordan has approximately 40-80 billion tons of oil shale (about 34 billion barrels of shale oil) that could last for over 900 years at current consumption, said a top official at an Estonian company tapping the Kingdom’s reserves of oil shale.
Watch this You Tube video of Dr. Vinegar’s briefing on IEI oil shale development project:
The Israeli high court decision on December 24, 2012 cleared the way for the IEI/Genie Energy Shefla Basin project.
Next was the announcement of natural gas production from the Tamar platform located 24 kilometers offshore of Ashkelon in the Mediterranean Exclusive Economic Zone of the Jewish nation. The Tamar natural gas well cost the equivalent of $3 billion to develop. On December 30, 2012, Globes reported the start up Tamar production flowing onshore to Israel in April 2013:
- “The Tamar project is the greatest production platform in Israeli history,” said Minister of Energy and Water Resources Dr. Uzi Landau at Friday’s inauguration of the Tamar natural gas field production platform.[ . [. .]
- Landau said that these remarks were backed a few days ago by Israel’s supreme economic authority, Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer, who revised upwards his 2013 growth forecast for Israel on the strength of gas production from Tamar. He added, “Natural gas will not only make electricity production more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper, it is a giant step toward freeing us from dependence on foreign energy sources, especially Arab oil. Although the reservoirs are located thousands of meters below the seabed, as far as the possibility of exploiting them is concerned, the sky’s the limit.”
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- The gas produced by the platform from wells located 90 kilometers west of Haifa will flow to the Ashdod terminal via a 150-kilometer 16-inch undersea pipeline.
[..]
- – said, “Inauguration of the platform is an important step toward the flow of natural gas to Israel from the Tamar well.” .. This is the realization of the vision and dream of the developers behind Israel’s largest ever infrastructure project. The production of natural gas from the Tamar well brings Israeli closer to energy independence for the first time since the country was founded, and will save billions of shekels, partly from the conversion of electricity production to natural gas.”
The Tamar partners starting production of offshore natural gas in 2013 should boost the prospects of the IEI/Genie Energy pilot test and the future of oil shale development in the Shefla Basin. The combination of offshore natural gas production coupled with on-shore oil shale extraction is a geo-political game changer for Israel and the world energy markets. These developments in late 2012 marked the beginning of Israel’s long sought energy independence further enhancing the country’s economic growth and stability.
I am curious how Europe will change its opinion.
Its opinion was bought by Saudi Arabia.
As America and Israel become oil independent, the game changes.
“And of Asher he [Moses] said, blessed above sons; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.” (Deuteronomy 33:24.)
(Deuteronomy 33:18-19): “About Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and you, Issachar, in your tents. They will summon peoples to the mountain and there offer sacrifices of righteousness; they will feast on the abundance of the seas, on the treasures hidden in the sand.”
Edom has not been historically kind to the Jews.
Israel’s having oil and gas is a true game changer.
Europe will quiet down about Israel over the next decade, not because it loves the Jews but because it needs fuel to run its economy.
The kingdom of the earth runs not on G-d but on oil.
That is why this is truly a watershed development in Jewish history.
I hate to rain on the parade, but….
Some of the latest gas drillings – Myrah and Sarah – have come up dry.
The Ishai field in the Pelagic zone, near Leviathan, has some gas, but less than expected.
As for the oil shale, I find it hard to believe there is as much oil as claimed, when the much larger Bakken shale formation has much less. I can’t see 250 billion barrels in Shefla, as some claim. Granted, even 1/10 of that would be great, but let’s not get ahead of oursevles here.
And as for Europe – it is too mired in Jew-hatred, which is in the European DNA – to ever change its mind about wanting to exterminate Israel and Jews.
Israel should give Europe the middle finger and sell the energy to Asia.
@ Eric R.:
So you noticed the middle finger on that map too, yes?
Eric R. Said:
There will be more exploration! There is a vast quantity of natural gas off Israel’s seabed and there is enough of it to free Israel from dependence on a hostile Egypt that canceled natural gas deliveries to Israel. As for shale oil, its matter of developing the technologies to extract and refine it. Being energy independent would allow the Jewish State to be free of dependence from countries that don’t have its best interests at heart. It will boost Israel’s economy. While I agree caution is in order, I feel that after so many decades of disappointments and setbacks, the sky’s the limit with what Israel can discover to ensure its future.
@ NormanF:
I agree that the gas finds are good news, but I also believe in that old proverb from my childhood – “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
At first it seemed like Israel might have 45-50 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas, but now about 40 tcf max might be more realistic. That still leaves Israel at least 30 years of domestic supply, but the difference in terms of export revenue for 10 tcf is about $80-$10 billion dollars, with is 33-40% of the annual GDP of Israel. (Equivalent to $5-6 trillion in the US economy).
As for the oil, even the optimists are looking at merely meeting domestic demand in the 2020s at 250k bbl/day. To be a major player, Israel would have to export an additional 500,000 bbl/day above that, and that is not likely. Keep in mind that North Dakota, which is 8x as large as Israel and has similar oil shale formations, is only expected to produce 500,000 barrels/day at its peak.
perhaps the arab spring has to do with gas/oil deposits. reworking the middle east govts away from secular nationalists and into the hands of monarchical/islamist govts. Those govts have been historically more suitable to western oil and stability; and know how to “play ball”.
Eric R. Said:
Who the hell are you? Are you one of the top experts in the world on oil shale as Harold Vinegar is? Obviously not. The test wells you refer to doesn’t diminish the estimates of Tamar and Leviathan natural gas field which have been proven. The tests wells were part of an effort to find more natural gas deposits. Your reference to North Dakota and the fact it is much larger than Israel means nothing. The Oil shale deposits in Israel are much closer to the surface than oil shale deposits in the Western US. They are also are not even close to any underground water aquafers which are well below the shale oil deposits in Israel. This is not the case in the Western US. I hate to rain on your parade of Israel hatred but Vinegar was the chief expert on Oil shale at Royal Dutch Shell.He would not waste his time if there was as you suggest one tenth of recoverable oil he estimates. According to Vinegar, the test wells have revealed the oil shale once heated will produce the highest grade of oil. You find it “hard to believe there is as much oil as claimed” because you don’t want to believe Israel possesses probable oil reserves close to the amount possessed by Saudi Arabia. It’s an anti-Semite’s worst nightmare: Israel which is number 2 in the world in high tech innovation with the oil deposits of Saudi Arabia.
Eric R. Said:
The company started by Harold Vinegar was being stalled in its’ effort to arrive at the ability to export large amounts of oil and be ” a major player” by this traitorous group of tree huggers’ legal challenges which obviously had no merit and were only designed to harm Israel. They were no doubt financed by anti-Semites /anti-Zionists. Also Vinegar states large companies such as Royal Dutch Shell are afraid of making the Nazi-Arabs angry and thus have avoided investing in any venture in Israel.But he states there are many smaller companies that will gladly invest in converting Israeli oil shale to oil and bringing it to the international market. If Vinegar’s estimate is accurate which I’m sure is the case, why shouldn’t Israel become a major player? Can you give any logical reason? Or is your statements just wishful thinking?
@ Joe Hamilton:
Who the $#@! are you to call me an Israel hater? Every regular on this board knows how laughable that assertion is.
Please start posting again when you start talking out of your mouth and stop talking out of that other body orifice.
Poland hast significant reserves of shale fuel. Once this technology starts working, Europe will become less dependent on Russia and the Arabs.
Good for Israel, too.
@ CuriousAmerican: After years of Bible study and learning of prophecy about Israel, it’s exciting to watch it unfold before my eyes. It was believed that someday Israel would become wealthy through oil/gas. The Dead Sea has many riches in it as well. Ezekiel 38, 39 talks about Russia invading Israel and these riches may cause Russia to try and invade someday but they will fail.
Alanjo55 Said:
How are you certain that Gog is Russia and how do you know it’s about “riches”?
@ Shy Guy:
Whether it’s Russia or some other country we understand that the Bible says the mighty bear from the north will come against Israel. It has been believed to be Russia because Mechesh can be an old word where Moscow is stated. In our time the country with the description of a mighty country north of Israel is Russia. The riches may be a cause for Russia to invade but that becomes a question since Russia has its own oil/gas. There probably will be other reasons Russia will use when it tries to invade Israel. I can only think that the riches would be their excuse. Many other countries will be a coalition with Russia on the invasion.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Europe will remain antisemitic (it is almost genetic) but will adapt to the situation because it is the survival of Europe that is at stake.
The EU may hate the Jews even more because of the potential dependence. The Jews were supposed to disappear (in smoke) for EVER from Europe!!!
@ NormanF:
You are speaking with such conviction…Are you part of the geological team? No, I know you are not.
How come you know all this when nobody, but nobody else is so sure?
I hope you are right, but only “pumping is believing.”
I for one, am delighted with the idea that Israel could become the Energy Source for the world, and especially for its own energy needs. But I am dismayed with the profligate consumption of all of the world’s fossil energies in the next few decades. I am not so concerned with depletion of fossil energies as I am with what’s known as global climate change or global warming – with arctic ice melting, sea levels rising, sea current changes and a variety of unforeseen consequences. We seem to be able to focus only on growth, while Planet Earth has its own delicate energy balance. Is this energy balance, perhaps, the most important problem for all of our disparate populations, independent of creed, color or constitution?
@ JOHN WORLOCK: John, don’t be concerned too much with the hoax of global warming. God has given us clear guidance that our earth has at least 1007 years left and 1000 of those years will have a perfect global climate. Just as God has given us confidence of His protection of Israel, He’ll provide a comfortable climate for life to exist.