Globes: Israeli gov't faces gas cartel conundrum
The government economic ministries and the Bank of Israel have begun to study the consequences of Antitrust Authority director Prof. David Gilo's expected decision to break up the cross-holdings of Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) and Noble Energy in the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas reservoirs. Government sources told "Globes" that Gilo's decision had come as a complete surprise to the Ministry of Finance and other ministries, where it had been assumed that Gilo would submit the compromise proposal signed by the parties on March 27. Under this proposal, Delek Group and Noble Energy could retain control of both Tamar and Leviathan, while selling Tanin and Karish, two smaller gas reservoirs. "We thought that this story was already behind us, but now we'll have to review it," a cabinet source told "Globes."
At a conference of the "Calcalist" newspaper today, Ministry of Finance budget director Amir Levy was the first senior official to publicly comment on Gilo's decision, saying that he "took responsibility" for the budget division not having dealt with the subject of gas up until now. "As long as we thought that Tanin and Karish was still a possibility, we hesitated between supervision and a single buyer. As of now, because something in the circumstances has changed, we want there to be three players. We can't afford to remain with a single player; that's intolerable. The desirable gas sector structure is at least three companies operating in the market. That's where we want to go.