The good news for IDT Corp. shareholders around midday Wednesday was that the stock was up around 8% in a broadly declining market. The bad news, at least for those who have owned it for a while, is that upsurge still left it at 39 cents a share, down from a 12-month high of $7.34.
Still, maybe the oil shale play isn't quite so off the wall after all. At least that's one conclusion you could draw from the agreement with France's Total SA that IDT announced Wednesday.
Newark, N.J.-based IDT, best known for its telecom operations (prepaid phone cards, Net2phone) and the high profile of founder and chairman
Howard Jonas, surprised people when it bought a controlling stake in an oil shale company a year ago and announced a "broader strategic initiative" to expand in the energy sector. The unit, now called
American Shale Oil LLC, says it's one of three companies with leases to begin experimental operations on federal land.
The deal announced Wednesday calls for Total, one of the globe's major energy companies, to take a 50% stake in AMSO for an undisclosed amount and fund R&D to develop it. And they actually got it done despite the steep falloff in oil prices.
Of course, if Jonas is right about global oil production (he cites the "peak oil" theory on AMSO's Web site) his oil may be competitively priced by the time it comes to market. Apparently Total thinks so. -
Kenneth Klee
Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum
Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
