Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L), Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L), and Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd. (formerly Samedan Mediterranean) today petitioned the High Court of Justice for an injunction to prevent the Ministry of Finance from signing a contract with BG Group plc (NYSE; LSE: BG) (British Gas) for the purchase of natural gas from the company’s onshore reserves near Gaza.
The petitioners want the original cabinet decision from 2004 to be restored. That decision stated that the government would not buy, market, or sell natural gas, nor authorize any other entity to do so. The petition was filed after the tenders committee exempted BG Group from a tender for the purchase of natural gas from the area that is the subject of the petition.
The petitioners claim that the tender exemption illegally harms the principle of freedom of occupation and right to free competition in the natural gas market. They also claim that the exemption violates Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty (1992). Finally, the petitioners want the cancellation of any agreement by the government to purchase the natural gas in question, because this was done without authority and in contravention of the law.
The petitioners have asked the High Court of Justice to issue a temporary injunction blocking the government from undertaking any explicit commitment regarding the subject in question. They claim that the pending deal between the parties amounts to $4 billion, which will make the government a key natural gas supplier in the domestic market, in violation of the principle anchored in the Natural Gas Law.
The petitioners claim that the law requires the development of Israel’s natural gas resources by private parties in a competitive structure under terms that benefit the Israeli economy.
Adv. Hanan Meltzer, who was appointed to Supreme Court bench yesterday, filed the petition.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 25, 2007
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