By Sara Toth Stub
Tel Aviv--Israel's antitrust authority is to consider whether
Noble Energy Ltd. and its local partner have a monopoly in the
natural gas sector and need to reduce holdings, a spokesman for the
authority said, effectively ending an agreement made three years
ago that Noble and Delek Group Ltd. were allowed to retain stakes
in the country's two largest gas fields in exchange for selling
holdings in two smaller fields.
A Noble official in Israel was highly critical of the antitrust
authority's decision to investigate whether there is a monopoly,
saying in a statement that Noble would reconsider its investment in
Israel.
"The antitrust authority's questioning of Noble's entry into
these licenses was without legal basis, and remains groundless,"
Binyamin Zomer, Noble's country manager for Israel said
Tuesday.
Noble owns 39.66% of the Leviathan field and 36% of the Tamar
field. Israeli company Delek Group, through its subsidiaries,
controls about 40% of Leviathan and 30% of Tamar.
Tamar, containing about 9 trillion cubic feet, began production
last year, and the larger Leviathan field has yet to be developed.
Several preliminary deals have been signed to export Israeli gas to
neighboring Jordan and Egypt, although no deals have been
finalized.
Noble, the only large foreign energy company working in Israel,
has invested about $6 billion in the last 16 years to develop
Israeli offshore gas fields.
Write to Sara Toth Stub at realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com
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