The Centralization Committee seeks to prevent Delek and Noble from accessing a drilling tender in Block 72 – Gas and Oil

The Committee for the Reduction of Centralization recommended to the Commissioner of Petroleum Affairs to disqualify Delek and Noble’s proposal in a competitive procedure for the gas and marine oil exploration license “Block 72” for reasons of general economic concentration.

Block 72 is a gas and oil exploration license, covering an area of ​​about 400 square kilometers. Israel and near the Lebanese economic water border.

As part of the competitive process, two bids were submitted, the first by Delek and Noble and the second by Energian. Delek is part of the Tshuva group, which is a centralizing factor due to the group’s determining credit, which is among the highest in the economy and also because it controls more than half of the natural gas production field. Tshuva Group has additional holdings in the economy.

Tshuva Group has bargaining power and influence over policy makers. In addition to the economic and strategic importance of its holdings, disruption or cessation of the operation of the reservoirs or transmission systems it owns will have an immediate and severe impact on the activity of the energy economy, which relies on the flow of natural gas to generate electricity.

Allocating the license on Block 72 to the Group may increase its bargaining power and ability to influence the government in other areas in which it currently operates.

In light of this, the Centralization Committee recommends preventing Delek from winning for reasons of general economic concentration.

The Centralization Committee is headed by Adv. Michal Halperin, who is in charge of the competition, and its members are Prof. Avi Simhon, Chairman of the National Economic Council, and Mr. Eran Yaakov, Acting Director General of the Ministry of Finance and Head of the Tax Authority.