Noble Energy Confirms Implementation Of Natural Gas Framework In Israel

(RTTNews) - Noble Energy, Inc. (NBL) was notified Thursday that the Government of Israel acted to implement the Natural Gas Framework through execution of Section 52 of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act.

Execution of Section 52 resolves and provides exemption from claims of the Anti-trust Authority with respect to the Leviathan Joint Venture partners' acquisition of petroleum rights in the underlying permits.

The Natural Gas Framework establishes the regulatory certainty and stability necessary to proceed with development of the Tamar expansion and Leviathan. It also provides transparency for future domestic pricing and natural gas competition in Israel.

The Natural Gas Framework also enables marketing of Leviathan gas to Israeli customers for the first time.

The development of Leviathan will substantially expand Noble Energy's capacity to deliver gas to Israel and the region, and provide a second source of domestic natural gas supply and redundancy of infrastructure for the people of Israel.

In addition, Noble Energy said it is updating and finalizing capital investment requirements. These activities will enable the company to conclude external financing agreements required to reach final investment decisions or FIDs. FID for each project is currently estimated to be taken before the end of 2016.