Delek Drilling chairman, Tadmor, to leave end-January
The chairman of Israel’s Delek Drilling Gideon Tadmor will leave at the end of January, Delek Group has said. Tadmor will then also no longer be the CEO of Avner Oil.
Tadmor was seen as the linchpin of the country’s energy industry, leading the energy activities of Delek Group, one of the partners in the natural gas monopoly in Israel, through the Yam Thetis, Tamar and Leviathan projects. He will be replaced as Delek Drilling chairman by Asi Bartfeld, who is also Delek Group CEO; and by Yossi Abu, as Avner CEO. Mr. Abu is also Delek Drilling CEO.
Tadmor has been involved in the Israeli energy industry since the mid-90s. He convinced Yitzhak Tshuva, Delek Group's controlling shareholder, to invest in the development of the Tamar field, and later mediated between Delek Group and the American company Noble Energy as the Americans joined the project as shareholders and operators.
Tadmor has become the public face of the energy businesses of Delek Group. He led its vociferous opposition to the implementation of the Sheshinski Committee’s plan to raise natural gas taxation, where he failed; and he led the Group's onslaught on politicians, regulators and public opinion in order to advance the regulatory natural gas framework, and succeeded.
According to The Marker, a business daily, during his time with Delek Group Tadmor earned NIS 200mn ($51mn) mainly through various deals with the group.
"I had the privilege of working with my partners in Delek Group and Noble Energy, taking part in the establishment of the 'blue-white' natural gas industry," Tadmor said in a press release, referring to the Israeli national flag colors. "Now I feel it is time to turn to an independent way and new challenges in my own new company and other areas."
"Tadmor is one of the pillars of the Israeli energy industry, and he has a leading role in the conversion of the 'blue-white' natural gas dream into a reality," said Tshuva, Delek's controlling shareholder.
Tadmor leaves the group just after the approval of the natural gas regulatory framework though it is still being contested in the High Court of Justice, and before the expected negotiations over big export contracts that are essential in order to develop Leviathan and expand Tamar.
In early January, the Leviathan Partnership announced that it is holding negotiations with various Israeli organizations to sell them gas. Previously it was assumed that potential anchor customers for Leviathan would be export markets but now there is an option for a limited development of the gas field that would supply the Israeli market. Shortly after the field was discovered and its size known, the government planned to retain a large portion of its output for domestic consumers.
Delek has nominated a new director to Delek Drilling Board of Directors, Roni Bar-On, a former finance minister.
Ya’acov Zalel