Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Petition against IEI Oil Shale Project

JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Israel Energy Initiatives, Ltd. (IEI), a subsidiary of Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE: GNE), said that it was pleased by a favorable ruling issued today by the Supreme Court of Israel. The Court’s decision clears a major legal roadblock and enables this nationally important project to move forward to the permitting phase.

In its ruling today, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected a petition filed by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (the “Union”) against various ministries of the State of Israel, IEI 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 IEI. In October, the Court rejected a previous petition filed by the Union challenging the issuance of exploratory licenses, including IEI’s license, issued pursuant to those regulations.

IEI 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.

About Israel Energy Initiatives:

Israel Energy Initiatives Ltd (IEI) is an Israeli company based in Jerusalem. IEI is developing an environmentally acceptable approach to produce clean transportation fuels from oil shale utilizing its in-situ conversion technology. IEI holds an exclusive exploration license granted by the Israeli Government pursuant to Israel’s Petroleum Law. The license area is located in Israel’s Shfela basin, and is estimated to contain over 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent. IEI has world class oil shale scientific and management teams. For more information, visit www.iei-energy.com.

About Genie Energy:

Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE: GNE) is a public company comprised of IDT Energy and Genie Oil and Gas (GOGAS). IDT Energy is a leading independent retail energy provider supplying electricity and natural gas to residential and small business customers in the Northeastern United States. GOGAS is pioneering technologies to produce clean and affordable transportation fuels from the world's abundant oil shales and other unconventional fuel resources. GOGAS resource development projects include oil shale initiatives in Colorado and Israel. For more information, visit www.genie.com.