Israeli cabinet approves new natural gas agreement - GLOBES

22/05/2016, Hedy Cohen

The new gas field development agreement has a stability clause, which is more flexible than the one struck down by the High Court.

The cabinet today approved by a large majority the natural gas plan with a new and more flexible stability clause. The only minister to vote against it was Minister of Environment Protection Avi Gabai. The new clause does not commit future governments. According to the cabinet resolution approved today, the government promises to act in favor of regulatory stability for 10 years in the gas sector, but does not guarantee that nothing will be changed in taxation, ownership of the reservoirs, and exports. In contrast to the previous stability clause, the government will not oppose private members' bills seeking to make such changes.

Steinitz: Israel to propose new gas framework soon - GLOBES

08/05/2016, Globes correspondent

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Bloomberg he would present a softer version of the stability clause ruled illegal.

The State of Israel will shortly present Noble Energy and Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) an alternative to the stability clause in the gas framework agreement with them that was struck down by the High Court of Justice, Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz told Bloomberg last week. The controversial clause in the agreement promised that the government would introduce no material regulatory changes for ten years. Steinitz said that the redrafted clause would enable the Leviathan gas reservoir to be developed, and would pave the way to gas export agreements with Egypt and Turkey. Steinitz refused to be specific about the content of the new clause.

OTC 2016: Israel to Hold Oil, Gas Bid Round in 2016 - RIGZONE

by Andreas Exarheas
Thursday, May 05, 2016

Israel is scheduled to hold an international oil and gas bid round this year, confirmed Eitan Levon, consul general of Israel to the Southwest US, in a presentation at OTC in Houston.

Addressing industry delegates, Levon revealed that the Levant basin could still hold undiscovered resources of 6.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. In a statement in November, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said experts estimate that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 billion cubic meters of gas in the East Mediterranean basin.

E.Med: Short-term problems cloud longer-term outlook - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

April 04th, 2016

There’s still a lot of optimism surrounding the eastern Mediterranean, despite a recent decision by the High Court in Jerusalem that will delay Israeli field developments and continuing disputes between Cairo and Shell concerning Egyptian field development.

Cyprus has demonstrated its confidence that the region’s fortunes will bounce back by announcing a third licensing round; while the European Commission’s Vice President for Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, has publicly stated EU backing for a pipeline to Greece.

It’s certainly a contradictory background, made all the more difficult to assess because access to the most commercially viable regional market, Turkey, depends on two major political developments: rapprochement between Israel and Turkey and a solution to the 41-year-old partition of Cyprus.

What this means is that there is a fundamental difference between what can be achieved in the short term and the much larger prospects and possibilities in the long term.

Steinitz sees gas solution "within months, even weeks" - GLOBES

03/04/2016, 12:09, Ran Dagoni, Washington

Visiting US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will presumably raise Noble Energy's problems after the High Court of Justice disallowed the gas framework.

Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz said yesterday that he was not aware of pressures supposedly exerted on Israel by Noble Energy in the wake of the striking down of the stability clause in the Israeli government's agreement with the gas exploration companies by the High Court of Justice. Talking to "Globes", Steinitz said, "I hear what everyone is saying and I have not heard that Noble is applying pressure on me or on anyone else in Israel through US legislators."

Netanyahu loses gas battle but wins war - JERUSALEM POST

02.04.2016

Why the High Court ruling cleared the last legal hoops to making the natural gas deal a reality.
Listening to the rhetoric of the critics and the supporters of the High Court of Justice’s landmark decision striking down the government’s natural gas policy, one would imagine that it was a low point of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership and a high point for opponents of the policy.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

To understand why, it is important to look not just at the overall result. Admittedly the High Court did strike down, or at least suspend for around a year, the gas policy.

But break down the disparate, multiple decisions and votes the High Court made on several extraordinary issues beforehand, and you will find that while opponents of the deal won the battle and will probably achieve some changes they want in the industry framework, Netanyahu won on a vast majority of the issues – and many of his wins were not obvious ones.

So let’s look at the votes, starting with the votes against the deal.

US Politicians, Noble Meet Israeli Ministers ahead of Stability Ruling - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

March 15th, 2016

Noble Energy CEO David Stover and senior company executives visited Israel’s energy minister Yuval Steinitz and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 14 to chivvy things along with the Leviathan field development.

He arrived a few days before the High Court of Justice is due to release its decision on the petitions objecting the natural gas regulatory framework, but the ministry said that was a coincidence.

In a statement the ministry said Stover presented Steinitz with the timetable and data in an effort to accelerate the development of the Leviathan reservoir." The ministry said the visit had been planned in advance and had no connection to the legal process.

"Noble's executives have reassured [us] that despite the turmoil in the global energy markets it will be possible to complete the development of Leviathan in accordance with the framework's timetables and even to shorten the duration," the spokeswoman said. "Steinitz said that the Israeli government is committed to the gas framework and the ministry will act to solve the bureaucratic processes in order to enable the gas field development in an orderly manner."

The Old Jewish Joke That Explains Israel's Dangerous Dithering on Natural Gas - HAARETZ

According to the opposition, whatever happens with the government's deal with the gas companies is bad. But any delay may cost Israel billions.

Nehemia Shtrasler Mar 04, 2016

A Polish woman decided to buy a present for her son-in-law. She bought him two ties, one red and one blue. One evening, she invited her daughter and son-in-law over for dinner, and the son-in-law, who wanted to make his mother-in-law happy, decided to wear the blue tie. But when she opened the door, the mother-in-law took one glance and complained, “I see you didn’t like the red tie.”

It’s the same story with the government’s deal with the natural-gas companies: Whatever happens with it is bad, according to the opposition. If Egypt found gas and no longer needs Israel, it’s proof the agreement is a bad one. But if Turkey, Greece and Cyprus are interested in buying Israeli gas that’s bad too, because we won’t have enough for ourselves.

Weekly Overview on Eastern Mediterranean Natural Gas Matters | Natural Gas Europe

January 22nd, 2016

Israel

Israeli waters may hold more natural gas than previously expected. On January 17, an Israeli gas exploration group led by Isramco Negev and Modiin Energy announced it had encountered indications of a possible natural gas field off the country’s coast. The Daniel East and Daniel West licenses may contain up to 8.9 trillion ft³, according to a report by the companies.

Israel’s largest discoveries to date are the Tamar field, estimated at 10 trillion ft³, and the Leviathan, estimated at 22 trillion ft³. The country has not yet been able to develop the giant Leviathan delayed by domestic regulatory disputes.

Alex Brummer: Much still remains unclear about Israel’s ‘gift from god’ oil deal | Jewish News

Alex Brummer, City Editor of the Daily Mail

January 7, 2016
By Alex Brummer, City Editor of the Daily Mail

THE PROPOSED £47billion takeover of BG Group (the former exploration arm of British Gas) by Shell may appear to have little to do with Middle East politics. The main debate in the City of London has been about the fall in the oil price (it has tumbled 75 percent over the past 18 months) and whether the deal now makes sense for Shell and BG investors who vote on thedeal later this month.

But it is not just the Shell board and BG that have been anxious to get this deal done. On 17 December, amid political controversy at home, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Israel finally signed a deal with an American led oil partnership to develop the offshore Leviathan oilfield. Netanyahu has described the deal with the US explorer Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Group ‘as a gift from God’ and invoked national security concerns to bypass Israel’s competition rules.

Opponents, who have petitioned the High Court to reverse the contract, argue that the environmental and economic implications of the deal need to be looked at “in the face of the huge monopoly of Delek Group owner Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy”.

The campaign against, led by Meretz, the secular, left-leaning party, does have some weight.

One of the great criticisms of the Israel economy,made by the global monitors such as the International Monetary Fund and OECD, is that Israel’s wealth is too concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy families. The gas deal will, if manything, underpin that wealth and control.

The way the Netanyahu administration has structured the transaction also has strategic implications. The Leviathan field is estimated to contain some 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas which, even at presently low world prices, has a value of $120bn. The partners in the deal, Noble and Delek, are already producing gas from the smaller Tamar field, which supplies up to half of Israel’s current electricity needs.

The latest transaction reportedly has the full support of the Obama administration in Washington.

In the recent past (notably over the Iran nuclear deal), such considerations have been brushed aside in Jerusalem.

The strategic value of the deal is in the detail.

Most of the output of the Leviathan will be exported via BG International’s gas liquefaction facility in Egypt over 15 years. It will therefore underpin economic relations between Jerusalem and Cairo and create jobs and income for the Idku refinery in Egypt that has been largely idle.

The value of this element of the deal has been estimated at $30billion. Jordan will also be a beneficiary of exports from the Leviathan field.

This is where it all becomes more complicated.

The Egyptian facility, which will handle most of the gas, is owned by BG, which has extensive natural gas facilities across the region. In Shell’s offer document for BG, distributed to shareholders, the new prospective owners make no mention of the Middle East among the countries and regions on which it intends to focus. BG, however, is committed to building a single pipeline to Egypt from Leviathan and the Aphrodite reservoir in Cyprus.

It recently bought Noble Energy out of its 50 percent stake in the Aphrodite discovery.

By pressing ahead with the Leviathan contracts, before the expected Shell takeover of BG, the Netanyahu government may be seeking to insulate itself from further delays caused by the uncertainty of the takeover. It also risks, however, that Shell may decide to dispose of its noncore interests, putting future arrangements for Leviathan in jeopardy again.

The political controversy in Israel is unlikely to go away. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog has described the use of national security provisions to push ahead with the contracts as “a cynical ploy that takes advantage of our security situation”.

The sharp decline in the oil and natural gas prices is having a dramatic effect across the whole Middle East and not just Israel. Among the OPEC oil producers, it has pitted Iran – which wants to pump more oil now that sanctions are being eased – against Saudi Arabia, which would like to restrict production this year, in the hope of putting a floor under the oil price.

If the oil price were to continue to fall to $20-a-barrel, as Goldman Sachs has forecast, then the main Gulf oil producing states would be $494bn poorer and would be required to sell extensive assets to meet budgetary shortfalls.

Israel’s natural gas may be less valuable at present than it once hoped. But it does provide the Jewish state with a degree of energy security that once seemed impossible, at a time when the oil rich states around it are struggling.

Nevertheless, there will still be some anxious days ahead as the proposed Shell-BG deal is settled and the future development of the Leviathan discovery could again be rendered uncertain.

SOURCE

Five-justice Panel to Hear Challenge to Israel's Gas Plan | Haaretz

Avi Bar-Eli, Dec 29, 2015

An expanded panel of at least five justices will consider the petitions to the High Court of Justice challenging the legality of the government’s gas framework agreement, the court announced Tuesday.

The framework gives monopoly control of the country’s major offshore natural gas exploration sites, Tamar and Leviathan, to a consortium led by Houston-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek group, subject to certain limitations, in an effort to pave the way for their development.

The court’s initial hearing on the matter has been scheduled for February 3 before three justices, Elyakim Rubinstein, Uzi Vogelman and Noam Sohlberg.

As it stands now, the court has four separate petitions pending by three public policy groups as well as the Meretz party. A fifth petition is expected from the Zionist Union party as well. The Tamar exploration site is already in production, but development of the much larger Leviathan site has stalled amid the regulatory uncertainly pertaining to the project. (Avi Bar-Eli)

SOURCE

Netanyahu’s Support for the Gas Deal: A Leadership Crisis He Had to Win | Haaretz

The government ignored security arguments when negotiating with natural gas firms but dredged them up to bypass the antitrust chief. The following are three key issues.

Eytan Avriel Dec 29, 2015

Hats off to the organizations that have fought the government’s decision to give Delek Group and its U.S. partner Noble Energy a dominant position in the country’s natural gas industry.

And hats off to Israelis who keep fighting. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the deal, the debate is still going on, from High Court petitions to arguments in the press and on social media.

After all, the questions about what Israelis will reap from this miracle under the sea are only growing. Here are three.


The issue of the implementation team

Immediately after approving the deal, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz appointed a team to implement it. The team includes, besides people from the Energy Ministry, officials from the Finance Ministry and National Economic Council, agencies that shaped the deal and led negotiations with the gas companies. They called the deal “the best option.”

The implementation-team idea is a good one. The public sector is bureaucratic and does not excel at carrying out decisions, so a team to keep things moving is a good idea. But this team, like the process that led to the deal, isn't up to snuff and is hard to understand.

First, the person appointed to head the team is the Energy Ministry’s director general, Shaul Meridor, who has never handled the gas issue because of possible conflicts of interest. His brother, Mattan Meridor, is a partner in the law firm representing the Noble-Delek gas monopoly.

Meridor, who specializes in antitrust and competition law, attended some of the talks between the monopoly and the government team that forged the compromise deal. Is it logical that a person blocked from crafting the deal because of possible conflicts of interest should head the team implementing it?

That’s just one problem. Israelis have learned about an obscure clause in the antitrust law, Article 52, via which Netanyahu as economy minister bypassed the antitrust commissioner’s decision urging more scrutiny. Netanyahu used the argument that the gas deal has significant political and security ramifications, not just economic.

The show this month at the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee has revolved around this issue. At the climax of the show, the prime minister told the committee that the state had invested hundreds of millions of shekels to provide security for the offshore gas platforms because they’re in range of Hamas rockets from Gaza and the gas affects our ties with Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.

The prime minister declared that decisions on the gas market should take into account security and foreign relations. He appropriated the antitrust commissioner’s authority and signed the deal. So why didn’t the implementation team include representatives of the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council and the military, which has to defend the gas platforms?

And why didn’t the team include members of the Antitrust Authority and the Electricity Authority, agencies responsible for the economy? Put a slightly different way, why does it appear the only interest directing the government is the gas monopoly’s economic interest?

Meanwhile, there’s a worrisome question the High Court might raise when it hears the petitions against the deal. If security and diplomatic considerations are so important, whey didn’t defense and foreign ministry officials work on the deal and help negotiate with the gas companies?

If there’s a fear that defense or diplomatic considerations were neglected, is the deal prudent? For example, the public never received a report on the costs of defending the platforms, or on whether the authorities discussed with the gas companies who would pay for the platforms’ defense.


The issue of global gas prices

The government uses security arguments when it’s convenient. It ignores them when negotiating with gas companies but dredges them up to bypass the Antitrust Authority. Similarly, the government uses global gas prices or ignores them based on its political needs.

Last summer, every time Steinitz sought to convince his interlocutors about the gas deal’s low price, he showed a table he said proved that Israel’s gas price would be low relative to most developed countries. But Steinitz used 2014 prices, while the market had plummeted since then. Only under the pressure of public protest did the gas deal lower the ceiling on new contracts.

But global gas prices have continued to collapse; it’s now questionable whether developing the gas fields yet to be developed will be profitable – basically all the fields besides Tamar, from which gas has been flowing for two years. On Thursday, for example, the Energy Ministry awarded concession documents for the Karish and Tanin reserves, but given current prices it’s highly doubtful whether it’s worth developing these two small fields.

This is important because the gas deal is based on the principle that the Karish-Tanin reserves, which Delek and Noble are required to sell within 14 months, are the ones creating competition and price reductions in the Israeli market. If it’s not profitable to develop them, no competition will ever develop.

According to experts, as long as gas prices don’t recover, the government will be forced to offer billions of shekels in subsidies to the Karish-Tanin shareholders to make it worth their while. Otherwise the fields won’t be developed.

This subsidy can take the form of a huge development grant, a high enough long-term guaranteed price, or a combination of the two. Are these low prices in global markets, which create the need for an enormous subsidy to the concession holders, not enough to reopen the debate on the gas deal, or at least hold a public discussion?


The issue of Netanyahu’s resolve

Of course, the prime minister didn’t show any interest in the gas market until a year ago, just as he didn’t show any interest in key economic issues in recent years. It’s no coincidence.

This decade, Netanyahu has portrayed himself as a responsible adult on security and foreign policy, and left the irksome socioeconomic issues to ministers and bureaucrats.

Netanyahu may have met Noble Energy’s chiefs when they visited Israel, sometimes with Delek’s controlling shareholder, Yitzhak Tshuva, but he didn’t help with the work and contacts in drafting the deal.

But a year ago, when the antitrust commissioner decided to do his job, Netanyahu turned into the deal’s main marketer; he even took the unusual step of taking over from his economy minister. So why did Netanyahu suddenly return to economic affairs, and why in the complex field of gas?

According to one theory, he was pressured by the United States, and we know of at least one letter from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the owner of the Israel Hayom newspaper who supports Netanyahu unconditionally. Government insiders and lobbyists for former U.S. President Bill Clinton also applied pressure.

Another theory suggests that Netanyahu feared that postponing development of the gas fields would lead to an investigative committee on “the great gas disaster,” as his enemies would label it, blaming him. There are two theories on this.

One is that Netanyahu could speed up the deal and development, even to the benefit of the gas companies. Second, he could blame delays on his political opponents – leftists, communists and protesters, whose real goal is to dethrone him.

It’s very likely that neither of these theories is right and that Netanyahu simply found himself in a leadership crisis he felt he had to win. Politicians on the sidelines say Netanyahu’s involvement shifted after Steinitz, who enjoys a rare open door to the prime minister, entered the Energy Ministry.

Steinitz recruited Netanyahu to help market the deal. The prime minister was armed with slogans. He declared that “when I want something, I usually get it.” And from there he had no choice but to continue until the deal was approved.

Which version is correct? We have no answer, but the question still keeps many people busy.

Eytan Avriel, Haaretz Contributor

SOURCE

Weekly Overview On Eastern Mediterranean Natural Gas Matters | Natural Gas Europe

December 18th, 2015

Israel approves the natural gas framework

This week’s major development in the Eastern Mediterranean is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s signing of the natural gas framework deal that will allow the partners in Israel’s Leviathan to move ahead with the development of the giant field and reach export stage. Netanyahu’s approval of the plan to develop Israel’s offshore natural gas field via the application of clause 52 of the Antitrust Law strips the country’s Antitrust Authority from its overseeing power over the industry to avoid any hindrance to the effective development of the fields. The Prime Minister's application of clause 52 of the Antitrust Law, granting the economy minister the exclusive power to override decisions by the Antitrust Authority chief on issues with sensitive strategic or diplomatic implications, was considered artificial by the chairman of the Knesset Economics Committee and motivated by economic reasons rather than national interest.

The Knesset Economics Committee voted against the framework

The Committee’s non binding recommendation issued on Wednesday after 11 sessions was against Netanyahu’s plan (7 votes against 6), that it considered the plan to be motivated by economic reasons, rather than diplomatic, as advanced by the Prime Minister. The committee announced it was “not convinced at this time, as well as in the foreseeable future, [that] there are reasons of foreign policy and security that justify such an extreme measure as an administrative exemption from the law’s commands in the hands of the economy minister, while the supervision of monopolies and restrictive trade practices should be carefully controlled, in the manner determined by the Antitrust Law."

Noble Energy applauded Netanyahu's decision

Noble’s Senior Vice President, Keith Elliott, welcomed the news expressing his satisfaction, stressing the importance of the development of the fields to the security and economic prosperity of Israel and confirming that the approval of the framework enables Noble to move ahead with the development of Israel’s offshore fields.

Appeal against the decision before the High Court of Justice to be expected

Netanyahu’s decision to override the committee’s recommendation by the signing of the deal at a ceremony on Thursday held at the Neot Hovav Industrial Park in the Negev, is not considered final as it may be appealed against by the opposition party the Zionist Union before the High Court of Justice. Former Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo resigned in August to express his opposition to the deal, as he was concerned that price would be distorted in Israel’s natural gas market as a result of permitting Noble and the Delek Group to hold on to their shares in Israel’s largest offshore fields.

Israel's ambition to export to Egypt still at risk

Israel’s delays in the development of its offshore fields have been caused by a dispute between the partners in the Leviathan and Tamar fields and the country’s competition regulator accusing the owners of the fields of constituting a cartel that would distort competition in the domestic natural gas market. Approving the natural gas framework would enable Israel to export gas to regional markets, namely Egypt. The two countries have been engaged in talks over the possibility of exporting gas from Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan to Egypt’s domestic market.

Despite its previous appetite to import gas from its neighbour, Egypt has ordered the immediate halting of the gas negotiations after a ruling by international arbitrators earlier this month ordering Egypt to compensate Israel with $1.76 billion to repair the damage caused by the disruptions in the flow of natural gas in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in 2011. At the time, Egypt was supplying Israel with Egyptian gas, but attacks to the pipeline caused major disruptions following the toppling of President Husni Mubarak.

Cyprus still eyeing the Egyptian market

Israel’s struggles to approve the natural gas framework are not the only hurdles it will face before it can export gas to Egypt and the region, and potentially use Egypt’s underused export terminals to reach distant lucrative markets. Its newly strained relationship with Egypt will also have to be restored by diplomatic means. Despite the discovery by ENI of a huge field, Zohr, in Egyptian waters, Egypt was still looking to import gas from Israel in the short term to solve its energy crisis. Egypt’s refusal to compensate Israel as ruled by the arbitrators of the International Chamber of Commerce, and its discovery of the Zohr field estimated at up to 30 trillion cubic feet make a gas deal with Israel fragile. 

Egypt maintains a good relationship with Cyprus and has announced it is still interested in importing gas from Cyprus’ Aphrodite field. Cyprus has been involved in a series of meetings with its neighbours Egypt, Israel and Greece to discuss ways of optimising the natural gas finds in its waters. Cyprus has also discussed the possibility of joint export infrastructures with Israel. Exporting gas to Egypt via a common undersea pipeline between Israel and Cyprus will now depend on the future of the Israeli-Egyptian relationship.

Lebanon said to be closer to opening its first licensing round

Also in the Eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon is now closer to opening its first licensing round. The country’s first offshore bidding round has been repeatedly postponed despite substantial interest expressed from international oil and gas majors in the country’s pre-qualification round.

Lebanon’s political vacuum, the country operating without a President since May last year, and the spillover of Syria’s civil unrest next door have prevented the Government from issuing two pieces of legislations that are essential to launching explorations offshore. The two missing decrees will delineate offshore blocks and lay out a model production-sharing agreement. Lebanon’s Minister of Energy announced this week that the different political parties are closer to reaching an agreement regarding the country’s energy industry. The fear remains whether international oil and gas companies would still be interested in tapping Lebanon’s waters after losing confidence in the country’s ability to stick to deadlines and lead the process to fruition.

Karen Ayat is an analyst and Associate Partner at Natural Gas Europe focused on energy geopolitics. Karen is also a co-founder of the Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI). She holds an LLM in Commercial Law from City University London and a Bachelor of Laws from Université Saint Joseph in Beirut. Email Karen karen@minoils.com Follow her on Twitter: @karenayat 

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Press Releases on Dec 17 2015 | Delek Group

Approval of Outline Plan for Organization of the Natural Gas Market
Tel Aviv, December 17, 2015. Delek Group (TASE: DLEKG, US ADR: DGRLY) (“the Company”)  announces pursuant to what was stated in section 1.7.25(3) of the  Company's Annual Report to December 31, 2014 that was published on March 30,  2015 (ref. no. 2015-01-067483), and the Company's Immediate Report dated August  17, 2015 (ref. no. 2015-01-097854) concerning the Government's approval of the  outline plan to increase the amount of natural gas produced from the Tamar  natural gas field and the rapid development of the Leviathan, Karish and Tanin  natural gas fields and other gas fields ("the Gas Outline Plan" or "the  Outline"), subject to provision of a waiver under section 52 of the Anti  Trust Law, 1988 ("the Anti Trust Law"), as stipulated in the Outline,  that on December 17, 2015 the Gas Outline Plan was validated, after the Prime  Minister in his capacity as Minister for the Economy exercised his authority  under section 52 of the Anti Trust Law.

Below (respectively)  are links to the website of the Prime Minister's Office concerning the Prime  Minister's announcement and the wording of the Outline: 
http://www.pmo.gov.il/MediaCenter/Speeches/Pages/speechGas171215.aspx 
http://www.pmo.gov.il/Secretary/sederyom/gov34/Documents/n105.pdf

The Partnerships,  Delek Drilling Limited Partnership and Avner Oil Exploration Limited  Partnership have added in respect of approval of the Outline that since the  Outline has become effective as stated above, the Partnerships will act to  implement it in accordance with its terms and the terms of the leases, and in particular will act, together with their partners in the Leviathan and Tamar  leases, to continue making investments and carrying out the necessary actions for  the rapid development of the Leviathan field and the expansion of the Tamar  field.

This is a convenience translation of the original HEBREW immediate  report issued to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by the Company on December 17, 2015.
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Petition to High Court
Tel Aviv, December 17, 2015. Delek Group (TASE: DLEKG, US ADR: DGRLY) (“the Company”) announces that attached is an Immediate Report just  submitted by each of Delek Drilling Limited Partnership and Avner Oil Exploration Limited Partnership (together "the Partnerships")  concerning a petition to the High Court against various bodies including the  Partnerships, which principally contains claims concerning the Government decision to approve the Gas Outline Plan, and concerning the National Master Plan for planned natural gas installations, and a request to be granted an  interim injunction that orders, inter alia, the Prime Minister and Minister of  the Economy not to approve the Gas Outline Plan in accordance with section 52  of the Anti Trust Law, 1988, as detailed in the attached report.

We  hereby announce that on December 16, 2015 the Partnerships received a copy of  the petition to the High Court, including the request for an order nisi and the  grant of an interim injunction, filed by the Israeli Forum for the Protection  of the Coastline, against Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and Minister for  the Economy, the Government of Israel, the Ministry of National  Infrastructures, the Ministry for the Protection of the Environment, the Ministry  of Health, the National Council for Planning and Construction, and against Delek Drilling Limited Partnership, Avner Oil Exploration Limited Partnership  and Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd. It included principally claims concerning  Government Decision No. 476 dated August 16, 2015 concerning approval of the  Gas Outline Plan, and to the National Master Plan 37/h and 37/2 concerning  planned natural gas installations, and the request for the grant of an interim  injunction ordering, inter alia, the Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy  not to approve the Gas Outline Plan in accordance with section 52 of the Anti  Trust Law, 1988.

The  Partnerships intend to study this petition to the High Court with the  assistance of their legal counsel, to assess its significance and accordingly  to formulate their further steps in the matter.

This is a  convenience translation of the original HEBREW immediate report issued to the  Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by the Company on December 17,  2015.
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Netanyahu set to sign gas framework today | Globes

The Prime Minister will approve the roadmap despite the Economic Affairs Committee's objection to using section 52

17/12/2015, Hedy Cohen

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will approve the gas framework on Thursday by activating section 52, despite the Economics Affairs Committee advising the Israeli leader not to activate the legal bypass.

After the framework is signed, its merits will be deliberated by the High Court of Justice, where the judges will decide over the coming months whether to approve or reject the roadmap.

The Economics Affairs Committee, chaired by MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union), said last Monday the was no justification to bypass the authority of the antitrust regulator for the activation of section 52 due to security concerns.

The committee’s vote, essentially recommending Prime Minister and Economy Minster Netanyahu not to approve the gas framework in its current iteration, was won by a margin of one.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 17, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

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