Israel's competition regulator recommended on Tuesday breaking up what it says is a monopoly control of the country's offshore gas reserves by Noble Energy and Delek Group, who together hold 85 percent of the giant Leviathan field.The decision puts in doubt current development plans for Leviathan, the huge deepwater gas field discovered four years ago off the Israeli coast, hitting the share prices of all the local partners in Leviathan.Following heavy political pressure, Commissioner David Gilo has revoked a compromise deal that would have allowed Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel's Delek Group to keep control of Leviathan.Anti-trust authorities have been targeting the companies, which discovered the field and other, smaller fields nearby, after critics, mostly political opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the firms have too much control over such a valuable national asset.
Noble Energy, Inc. (Noble Energy) is an independent energy company engaged in worldwide oil and gas exploration and production. Shares of NBL fell by 0.45% or $-0.23/share to $50.72. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $42.11 and as high as $79.63. On average, 3473790 shares of NBL exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 9782.
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