Energy giant Chevron has completed the acquisition of Noble Energy, the company which holds most of the natural gas reserves off Israel’s coastline.
Clay Neff, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production, briefed Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz on the completion of the transaction.
“The entry of the global energy giant is great news for the Israeli economy and opens up opportunities for investment in the high-tech and startups in the energy sector,” Steinitz said in a statement on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the development as a “tremendous revolution in the supply of energy to the State of Israel.”
“Chevron, the second-largest energy corporation in the world, has come into Israel to help us get the gas out of the water,” said Netanyahu. Israel’s offshore reserves “will bring billions, tens of billions and perhaps hundreds of billions of shekels to you, the citizens of Israel, to health, welfare, the economy, education in every field,” he added.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.