MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) called Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening not to meet with the CEO and Chairman of multinational Noble Energy, who is scheduled to arrive in Israel in the coming days. “His visit to Israel is meant to promote a hijacking which will allow for gas exports while bypassing the Knesset and using the fact that the Knesset is still in recess, and while evading the obligation to conduct a genuine debate on the question, the implications of which are far reaching,” said Khenin.
Charles Davidson, chairman and CEO of Houston-based Noble Energy, operator of the exploration license for natural gas and oil in Block 12 south east of the Cyprus coast, will visit Israel this week to mark the start of gas flow from the Tamar field. The visit is reportedly also intended to help persuade the Israeli government to allow gas exports that would open the way to pipe natural gas to the Vassiliko terminal for liquefaction and export.
“Israeli gas for Israelis” (Photo: Green Course)
The Tzemach Committee, chaired by Ministry of Energy and Water Resources director general Shaul Tzemach, advises allowing the export of up to 50% of each gas field’s reserves. The neo-liberal partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government promised in the coalition agreements to support “government decisions on energy supplies” and “decisions and bills that the prime minister will submit to regulate the gas and energy industry.”
Hadash and the Communist Party with environmental, energy, social and cost of living organizations, including the Israel Energy Forum and Israel Yakar Lanu (Israel is Dear to Us), oppose plans to export natural gas. The Israel Union for Environmental Defense called on MPs to oppose gas exports, on the grounds that the Tzemach Committee relied on overly optimistic forecasts and speculative conclusions about the country’s gas reserves. In a document sent to Knesset members, the organizations said that there was no basis for the claims by energy exploration companies that there is no economic justification to develop the gas field without exports.
