Reuters: Israeli Regulator to Resign, May Free Up Gas Explorers Noble and Delek

Israel's anti-monopoly regulator, who has been pushing to open the energy sector to competition, said on Monday he would step down in August, potentially lifting the pressure on exploration companies Noble Energy and Delek Group.

Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo caused an uproar in December when he ruled that Noble and Delek may constitute a monopoly over their control of two large natural gas fields Tamar and Leviathan.

In a stinging rebuke of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gilo, whose post is independent, said he was resigning because the government was pushing for a deal to speed up development of the gas field at the expense of bringing in new competition.

He did not, however, list details of what the deal would entail.

Tamar began producing gas two years ago, but development of Leviathan, the world's largest offshore gas discovery of the past decade, has since been frozen. MORE