JERUSALEM (AP) – When natural gas was discovered a few years ago off the shores of resource-poor Israel, it was heralded as nothing short of a miracle, but an emerging deal with developers has been plagued by criticism, with opponents accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of caving to a monopoly.
After long negotiations, a government committee has struck a deal with the firms, which aims to break up their monopolistic control of Israel’s gas reserves and introduce competition while maintaining incentives for fresh investment. But liberal lawmakers and environmentalists say the deal would squander a national treasure.
Netanyahu has held firm, and said this week he was “not impressed by the populist attack.”
“We are determined to extract the gas,” he said. “We will do everything to bring about a balance between these two needs. One need is that of the Israeli economy and the citizens of Israel and the other is that of the investors.”
A partnership between two firms, Texas-based Noble Energy and the Israeli Delek Group, is the main developer at Israel’s two main gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan. It also owns two smaller reserves discovered recently.