Comptroller says government 'poor' on natural gas

Just days before a Knesset vote on a measure that could cement a de facto monopoly over Israel’s offshore gas fields, the state comptroller slams the government’s handling of the lucrative resource.

In a report, the comptroller’s office says that governmental mismanagement and policy shortcomings resulted in an absence of competition and regulation in the natural gas market, delaying the development of Israel’s recently discovered offshore reserves.

“This audit indicates that the government’s conduct on natural gas production was poor and incohesive, and contributed to the creation of a monopoly in that market,” the report says.

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— Tamar Pileggi