Israel Court Examines Government on Anti-Trust, Stability
Israel's high court of justice heard February 3 petitions against the government’s natural gas regulatory framework.
The head of the panel, Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, said everybody can see that "the big questions are the activation of article 52 to the antitrust law and the regulatory liability [the stability clause].
Energy minister Yuval Steinitz was the most prominent witness called to give evidence in its support.
"We are in a severe crisis," he said, alluding to the fact that 60% of power generation in Israel is dependent on just one natural gas field connected to the shore by just one pipeline.
"As energy minister I can't be responsible for the supply of electricity as long as we have just one distant offshore gas field. I don’t have another realistic framework. However, the framework is right not only because it is the only one possible. I am proud of it because in any international comparison it is a good framework as it is."
The justices are focused on whether the use of article 52 of the antitrust law, which enabled the government to sidestep the antitrust authority – whose head David Gilo had resigned as a consequence – was justified. The government used security and foreign policy arguments in its defence.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to submit his affidavit during the next few days, having been refused permission to appear personally in court.
Referring to the stability clause, Steinitz said that it is time for fiscal stability in the local energy industry, and without one, there will be no chance of developing new gas fields.
An attorney for the state said that although the use of stability clause is exceptional it is not as significant as the petitioners claim.
During the hearing, the justices demanded the state to submit classified documents that were written by the National Security Council in order to test the justification for sidestepping Gilo’s authority.
Attorneys for all energy companies argued in front of the court, apart from Noble Energy's who preferred to pass on his right to speak and contented himself with the affidavit submitted to the court earlier.
A team of Noble Energy executives, headed by the senior vice president for the eastern Mediterranean, Keith Elliott, arrived at Israel at the beginning of the week and met Steinitz.
Elliott, according to Globes, a business daily, reassured him of Noble's serious intentions to develop its gas assets despite the crisis in the energy industry.
Ya'acov Zalel