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Greka Energy, currently also known as HVI Cat Canyon Inc. is a private United States oil and gas company operating principally in southern and central California, centered on Santa Barbara County. Formed in 1999 after acquisition and merger of several smaller firms, it is a subsidiary of Greka Integrated, Inc., a holding company headquartered in Santa Maria, California, and is wholly owned by Randeep Grewal.〔(SEC filing on formation of Greka in 2003 )〕 The United States operations of Greka consist of four units: Greka Oil & Gas, Alexi Realty, Santa Maria Refining Company, and Rincon Island Limited Partnership. They focus on petroleum extraction and asphalt processing in California, with holdings in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern, and Orange Counties. As of 2009, they had approximately 200 employees, and were the largest onshore oil operator in Santa Barbara County.〔(Greka Oil and Gas - Greka Times )〕 In May 2011, Greka changed its name to HVI Cat Canyon Inc.〔(US Department of Justice files lawsuit against Greka Oil and Gas )〕 In addition to its United States operations, Grewal runs further Greka operations in China, including Green Dragon Gas, which is a publicly traded company (GDG on the London Stock Exchange), and of which Grewal owns a controlling interest. Green Dragon Gas was incorporated in 2006 in Hong Kong, and mainly extracts coal bed methane in China. It is a part of Greka Energy International, B.V., a Netherlands Company headquartered in the Cayman Islands.〔(International Finance Corporation project page on Greka )〕 While Grewal owns both a controlling interest in Green Dragon, and all of Greka Energy in California, and the two companies use the same logo, as of 2009 the two companies are separate legal entities.〔(Los Angeles Times: clarification on Greka ownership status )〕〔(2003 10-K SEC filing ). When Greka was still a publicly traded company, in 2002 and early 2003, the China operations were part of the firm; Grewal separated them out later.〕 ==History== The oldest component firm making up Greka, Saba Enterprises, was founded in 1981.〔(Saba Enterprises description (Businessweek: from 2003) )〕 Greka itself was originally named Kiwi III, Ltd, and was created as a Colorado corporation in 1988. This firm, renamed to Petro Union, Inc., filed for bankruptcy in 1996.〔(2003 10-K SEC filing )〕 In 1999, Randeep Grewal, the current owner of the Greka companies, acquired the assets of Saba Petroleum, changing the company's name to Greka; and previously in 1998, with his newly purchased Horizontal Ventures, which was then a private entity, he acquired the assets of Petro Union, which was just then emerging from its 1996 bankruptcy filing in Indiana. Grewal formed Greka Energy by combining these various entities in 1999.〔(Greka's bankruptcy filing, as reported by assemblyman Pedro Nava )〕〔(Wall Street Transcript: Interview with Randeep Grewal )〕 In an October 2000 interview with Wall Street Transcript, Randeep Grewal stated that the company's motto was "Working for Profits": "...() are the three words that define what keeps me excited and that's primarily what each of my employees and I focus on. Being profitable drives every decision we make, hence our company’s slogan 'Working for Profits.'"〔 While a publicly traded firm, Greka continued to grow, acquiring Windsor Energy US Corporation and Rincon Island Limited Partnership in 2002,〔(prnewswire.com: "Greka Acquires Windsor Energy for $0.14/BL and Doubles Reserves in Strategic Niche - 3Q02 Earnings Teleconference Scheduled" ), 7 Nov 2002〕 thereby adding Rincon Island in Ventura County to their portfolio; and in that same year they acquired the properties of Vintage Petroleum in northern Santa Barbara County, which included about 110 producing wells on portions of five oil fields, principally in the Santa Maria Valley and the surrounding hills.〔(Business.com profile )〕〔(2003 10-K filing )〕 During the time that Greka was a public company, it had holdings worldwide, including in Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, and China, in addition to its United States operations, which at the time of its creation in 1999 included oil fields and other facilities in California, Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana.〔(March 22, 1999 SEC filing )〕 Randeep Grewal took the firm private in 2003. Until that year, Greka was traded on the NASDAQ as GRKA. Grewal bought all outstanding shares for $6.25 per share, which was a 69% premium over the $3.70 per share closing price, for a total of about $32 million.〔 Grewal split out several entities prior to filing Saba for bankruptcy in 2005. Three parts of Greka, including Greka, Petro Union, and Horizontal Ventures, were included in that filing, in which the firm in its petition estimated assets of $0–$50,000 and estimated debts of $10–$50 million. Neither the producing operations – which include several leases in Santa Barbara County, Rincon Island, Orange County, and Kern County – nor the asphalt plant were included in this liquidation filing.〔(James Norman: Greka Files for Liquidation )〕〔((July 2002 SEC filing) )〕 Greka appointed former Greka CFO,〔(SC 13E3: Going-Private filing for Greka )〕 Andrew deVegvar as president in January 2008. Shortly after beginning his new job DeVegvar began a new "Greka Green" campaign to counter the perception that the company was environmentally careless. The company also hired corporate security consultant, Tom Parker, a former Sr. FBI agent and Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Regional Office of the FBI, in order to investigate alleged sabotage at their facilities in late 2007 and early 2008 seemingly timed to coincide with the political meetings regarding Greka.〔(Press release on Reuters )〕 On August 20, 2008, Greka settled a lawsuit brought against them by the trustees of the owners of the mineral rights to several leases on the Cat Canyon Field. They paid $5 million to the trustees through Wells Fargo Bank and Union Bank. At issue was the transfer in 2002 of production from Vintage, the original operator hired in 1992, to Greka, which allegedly took place without the trustee's permission. According to Greka, the operations on the three leases on the field were only a small part of their local operations.〔(Greka to pay $5M to settle suit: Lompoc Record, September 5, 2008 )〕 On January 21, 2009, Greka sued the County of Santa Barbara, alleging that it used its "repeat offenders" rule to shut down non-polluting facilities along with polluting ones, a situation Greka maintained was unconstitutional. The County agreed with Greka that the retroactive application of the rule would be unconstitutional.〔(Santa Barbara County Sued By Greka Oil )〕 The remaining claims were dismissed by a U.S. District Court.〔(Greka Energy loses court battle with Santa Barbara County )〕 Citing declining oil prices and a deteriorating economic climate, Greka laid off 30 people in March 2009, representing about twenty percent of its staff in the Santa Maria area.〔(Pink slips handed out at Greka Energy: KSBY )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Greka Energy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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