Reuters: Tamar a Rare Success as Israel Struggles to Reap Gas Bonanza

The Tamar natural gas platform, towering 300 feet above the Mediterranean, is a rare success story in Israel's fledgling energy sector - a state-of-the-art facility that has already saved billions of dollars in electricity costs.

But as the only terminal built since the gas bonanza began in this part of the Mediterranean six years ago, it is also a reminder of the Levant's unrealised potential.

When Benjamin Netanyahu was elected in early 2009, Israelis were celebrating the discovery of Tamar, a gas field that promised energy independence, with reserves worth more than 130 billion shekels ($34 billion).

It was the first of a series of deep-water discoveries in the region, including the twice-as-large Leviathan field, that have since been bogged down in political and regulatory in-fighting over who should control the gas. Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel's Delek Group had bought into a number of licences, including Tamar and Leviathan.

Once the discoveries started coming, Netanyahu began trying to claw back a stake. With the reluctant agreement of the private sector, he raised tax rates in 2011. Two years later he limited exports to 40 percent of total reserves. MORE