Israeli Lays Groundwork to Defend against Anticipated Multi-Billion Dollar Lawsuit

The state of Israel is expecting legal trouble from Texas-based Noble Energy to the tune of billions of dollars in a lawsuit to recover losses it claims the Israeli government caused because it prevented the exploration and development of the massive Leviathan and Tamar natural gas fields from remaining on schedule. Noble believed its agreement with its gas partners and with the Israeli government was firm enough to warrant billions of dollars in expenditures to start the project. But earlier this year, former anti-trust commissioner David Gilo upset the deal and demanded the two lead companies, Noble and Israel’s Delek Group, make room for additional competition. The ruling ran counter to the calculations the company had made to justify the expense versus return. Delek has frozen all activity on the gas field causing even longer delays. In the meantime, an even larger gas field was discovered off the Egyptian coast which casts doubt on the value of Israeli projections for its newly-discovered fields.