Story by Globes Israel
Edison S.p.A. and other leading energy companies have expressed interest in acquiring the Karish and Tanin gas fields.
Another potential candidate for buying the two reservoirs is Italian company Eni, which discovered the huge Zohr reservoir in Egypt. At a meeting between Steinitz and Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi last month, Steinitz proposed that Eni invest in the reservoirs and consider conducting additional oil and gas exploration in Israel’s economic waters.
The Tanin and Karish reservoirs jointly contain a 60-80 BCM of gas, and NIS 700 million has been invested in them to date.
In order to approve the gas plan and assume the authority of the Antitrust Authority director general, in his role as Minister of the Economy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is obligated to consult the Knesset Economics Committee. In the coming weeks, Economics Committee chairman Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) will hold a series of discussions, to which the officials and regulators involved in the matter will be summoned. Political sources expressed concern that the Economics Committee would try to buy time, and that approval of the gas plan would take longer than expected as a result.
Another obstacle to approval of the plan is petitions to the High Court of Justice filed by various non-profit and social organizations. One such petition was filed this week by the Israeli Society for Sustainable Economics seeking to cancel the stability clause in the gas agreement, in which the government undertakes to refrain from intervening in the gas sector for 10 years.
