Globes: Israel energy market skeptical on antitrust proposal

Two months after the Israeli Antitrust Authority director general ordered the dissolution of the Leviathan natural gas partnership, the state today presented a compromise proposal for the gas industry to the gas developers: Yitzhak Tshuva's Delek Group Ltd. and US company Noble Energy. An inter-ministerial team from the Ministry of Finance; the National Economic Council; and the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources presented the proposal, which will also be presented to senior Noble Energy executives scheduled to visit Israel next week. The state's solution for the break up of the gas monopoly caused a big stir in the gas sector.

"It will be hard to find a purchaser to by Delek Group's holdings in Tamar. Furthermore, it won't be easy to find a buyer for the reservoir at the price level the state is willing to allow over the next five years," a senior gas industry source told "Globes."

Mathias Rigas, CEO of Cypriot company Energean, which last June signed an agreement with the partnership in the Myra and Sara gas exploration licenses to serve as an operator, also responded today, saying, "We're still interested in doing business in Israel, but we'll have to be more careful and meticulous now. We want to start doing business in Israel and also become active in other exploration licenses, but we'll have to wait and see how things develop, and decide only then." Rigas added, "There's no doubt that the Israeli government has changed the rules of the game. Certainty is the most important thing for investors. Any such change is a risk that we have to take into account, and if the risk eventually turns out to be too great, it may no longer be worth drilling in the gas license prospects."

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