Ammon News - AMMONNEWS -Gas import negotiations with the Israeli side is currently suspended for one year due to a judicial ruling, said Ghaleb Maabreh, secretary general of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on Saturday Jordan Times Published.
The suspension is a result of the Israeli supreme court's decision on a dispute between the parties of the agreement, Israel and Noble Energy Company, which owns a majority share in the Israeli Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Maabreh as saying.

Reports said that the court ruled in particular against a clause in the legal framework that guaranteed the company “regulatory stability”, meaning that the Israeli government could not make major changes to the way it regulates the industry for a decade. The court gave the Houston-based Noble Energy, its partner Delek Group and the government a year to revise that part of the deal.

Maabreh said this could lead to changes in technicalities that govern the agreement between US Noble Energy and Israel, thus affecting negotiations negatively.

He said that before the Israeli supreme court's decision, the Kingdom did not reach a final agreement with Noble Energy because of “outstanding financial matters”.

The official said that the Risheh gas field and gas imported from international markets through the Aqaba Port as well as from Egypt are currently top-priority options, whereas importing gas from Israel is the fourth choice on the list.

In September 2014, National Electric Power Company signed a letter of intent with the Noble Energy Company to research the possibility of supplying its electricity generation stations with around 300 million cubic feet of gas found in the Mediterranean field near the coasts of Haifa.

Moreover, the Arab Potash Company and the Jordan Bromine Company signed in 2014 deals with Noble Energy to import two billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Tamar field.