Globes: Antitrust regulator wants to restructure gas sector
Israel Antitrust Authority head Prof. David Gilo is showing no signs of reversing his decision to liquidate the natural gas monopoly of Delek Group Ltd. and Noble Energy. While negotiating with representatives of the two companies, Gilo said today at the Antitrust Authority annual conference that he was acting to restructure the natural gas market.
"In the natural gas sector, subject to the hearing, we're aiming to change the market structure in order to generate genuine competition between the reservoirs in the natural gas market," Gilo stated. "The anchor for this is our allegation of an agreement in restraint of trade that caused the monopoly, about which there will be a hearing with the parties. We aren't intervening against the monopoly just because it's a monopoly. We’re intervening against the monopoly because of the allegation that the monopoly was obtained through an alleged agreement in restraint of trade made by the parties."
Gilo argued that he was making great efforts to avoid going to court on the issue. "Under the Antitrust Law, it's possible to reach a draft consent decree in order to try to solve the competition problem arising from an alleged violation of the law. The Antitrust Authority has done its best to reach an out-of-court settlement in order to find a way that will both generate competition in the market and avoid the gas partnership's threat not to develop the Leviathan reservoir in the event of legal proceedings.