Noble Energy

The news last week was that Noble Energy decided to move two of its senior staff from Cyprus to Israel. Some ‘political sources’ interpreted this to be the result of dissatisfaction with the way government is handling commercialisation of Aphrodite and in particular the inordinate delays and lack of progress.

The main Israeli partners developing the large Leviathan natural gas site said on Nov. 27 they signed commitment letters with HSBC and J.P. Morgan for up to $1.75 billion (1.65 billion pounds) of financing.

Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration said the funds would go towards the A1 development stage of the project.

Noble Energy warned of the risk of a delay to the development of the Leviathan natural gas field off Israel's coast after Israel's Supreme Court blocked a crucial provision of a plan to develop the site.