Di spatches|ENERGY Saudi Arabia. There may be as much as half a trillion barrels.” Because <strong>the</strong> oil multinationals have feared to develop Shfela, one of <strong>the</strong> world’s largest oil developments is being undertaken by an unlikely troop. Jonas’s IDT is a consumer-oriented telecom and media company that is a relative <strong>new</strong>comer to <strong>the</strong> heavy industry world of energy development. Joining IDT in this latter-day Zionist Project is Lord Jacob Rothschild, a septuagenarian banker and philanthropist whose forefa<strong>the</strong>rs helped finance Zionist settlements in Palestine from <strong>the</strong> mid-1800s; Michael Steinhardt, a septuagenarian hedge-fund investor and Zionist philanthropist; and Rupert Murdoch, <strong>the</strong> octogenarian chairman of News Corp. who uncompromisingly opposes, in his words, <strong>the</strong> “ongoing war against <strong>the</strong> Jews” by Muslim terrorists, by <strong>the</strong> Western left in general, and by Europe’s “most elite politicians” in particular. Where o<strong>the</strong>rs would have long ago retired, <strong>the</strong>se businessmen-philanthropists have joined <strong>the</strong> battle on Israel’s side. While <strong>the</strong>y’re in it for <strong>the</strong> money, <strong>the</strong>y are also determined to free <strong>the</strong> world of Arab oil dependence by providing Israel with an oil weapon of its own. The company’s oil shale technology “could transform <strong>the</strong> future prospects of Israel, <strong>the</strong> Middle East and our allies around <strong>the</strong> world,” Lord Rothschild says. To win this war, Israeli Energy Initiatives has enlisted some of <strong>the</strong> energy industry’s savviest old soldiers — here a former president of Mobil Oil (Eugene Renna), <strong>the</strong>re a former president of Occidental Oil Shale Inc. (Allan Sass), over <strong>the</strong>re a former president of Halliburton (Dick Cheney). But <strong>the</strong> field commander for <strong>the</strong> operation, and <strong>the</strong> person who in <strong>the</strong>ir mind will lead <strong>the</strong>m to ultimate victory, is Harold Vinegar, a veteran pulled out of retirement and sent into <strong>the</strong> fray. Vinegar, a legend in <strong>the</strong> field, had been Shell Oil’s chief scientist and, with some 240 patents to his name during his 32 years at Shell, revolutionized <strong>the</strong> shale oil industry. Before oil met Vinegar, this was dirty business, a sprawling open mine operation that crushed and heated rock to yield a heavy tar amid mountains of spent shale. The low-value tar <strong>the</strong>n needed to be processed and refined. The bottom line: low economic return, high environmental cost. Vinegar boosted <strong>the</strong> bottom line by dropping <strong>the</strong> environmental damage. No open-pit mining, no spent shale, no heavy tar to manage. In his pioneering approach, heated rods are inserted underground into 46 In <strong>the</strong> <strong>new</strong> energy order, Israel is becoming a major player. The Meged oil field, pictured, is one of <strong>the</strong> biggest on-shore fields in <strong>the</strong> country. <strong>the</strong> shale, releasing from it natural gas and light liquids. The natural gas provides <strong>the</strong> project’s need for heat; <strong>the</strong> light liquids are easily refined into high-value jet fuel, diesel and naphtha. The <strong>new</strong> bottom line: oil at a highly profitable cost of about $35- $40 a barrel and an exceedingly low environmental footprint. Vinegar’s process produces greenhouse gas emissions less than half that from conventional oil wells and, unlike open-pit mining, does not consume water. The land area from which he will extract oil equivalent to that in Saudi Arabia? About 25 square kilometres. Although <strong>the</strong> Israeli shale project is still at an early stage, its massive potential and Vinegar’s reputation have already begun to change attitudes toward Israel. “We have been approached by all <strong>the</strong> majors,” Vinegar recently told <strong>the</strong> press, and for good reason. “Israel is very well positioned for oil exporting” to both European and Asian markets. The majors have o<strong>the</strong>r reasons, too, for casting <strong>the</strong>ir eyes afresh at Israel. Through its natural gas finds in <strong>the</strong> Mediterranean’s Levant Basin, and with no help from <strong>the</strong> oil majors, Israel is becoming a major natural gas exporter to Europe. According to <strong>the</strong> U.S. Geological Survey, <strong>the</strong> Levant Basin has vast natural gas supplies, most of it within Israel’s jurisdiction. Attitudes to Israel in some European capitals — those in line to receive Israeli gas — have already warmed and <strong>the</strong> shift to Israel may in time become tectonic, in Europe and elsewhere, when oil is at stake. (Many of <strong>the</strong> 38 countries which have an estimated 4.8-trillion barrels of shale oil would benefit from <strong>the</strong> shale oil technology now being pioneered in Israel.) Speeding that shift could be <strong>the</strong> Arab Spring, which many fear will flip pro- Western Arab states into hostile camps. Long-time U.S. ally Saudi Arabia is reportedly so distrustful of <strong>the</strong> U.S. following its abandonment of long-time Egyptian ally, President Hosni Mubarak, that it has pulled back its relationship with <strong>the</strong> West in favour of China. But freed of <strong>the</strong> threat of Arab punishment, and in a <strong>new</strong> world energy order, Western countries may turn again, to <strong>the</strong>ir benefit. Rupert Murdoch expresses well <strong>the</strong> highest hopes of his partners: “If [our] effort to develop shale oil is successful, as I believe it will be, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> <strong>new</strong>s we’ll report in <strong>the</strong> coming decades will reflect a more prosperous, more democratic and more secure world.” Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Energy Probe. LawrenceSolomon@ nextcity.com FALL 2011 | OCT-NOV-DEC
Location 56.999031, -111.605086 THE MATTERS. A forest should look and feel like a forest. Thirty years ago, reclamation meant planting trees. Today, we create a much more diverse and natural landscape, including wetlands and a variety of trees, shrubs and plants. We want to leave restored land that makes everyone proud. Steve Gaudet Syncrude Canada Ltd. oilsandstoday.ca A message from Canada’s Oil Sands Producers. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) represents member companies that produce over 90 per cent of Canada’s natural gas and crude oil, including Canada’s Oil Sands Producers.
Change language