Israel/Australia: Gas export partnership wants cartel exemption

Israel’s Antitrust Authority has been approached with a request for cartel exemption by the Israeli partners of oil giant Leviathan; reports say the exemption would simplify sale rights from the reservoir to Woodside Petroleum Ltd., based in Australia. Avner Oil and Gas LP and Delek Drilling LP, as well as Ratio Oil Exploration, have all requested the exemption. Woodside announced last year it would buy a 30 percent take in Leviathan for $1.25 billion and made clear its intentions to use the acquisition to increase exports of liquefied natural gas to the Far East. Since, reports have emerged that the director general of the Antitrust Authority, David Gilo, would declare the partnership between Leviathan and Israel’s gas market a cartel. According to reports, Leviathan’s exemption request suggests even more so that Gilo will declare the existence of a cartel. The reservoir’s value is estimated to be about $5 billion since a large discovery of natural gas in 2010.

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