Israeli gas sector lose $1.5 billion in value

Investors in Israeli gas stocks have seen better days, after stocks shed as much as 23 percent of their value in trading Sunday.

The tumble amounts to NIS 5.7 billion (almost $1.5 billion) in losses. The public was also affected, as many pension funds have stakes in natural gas.

The massive losses were triggered by the announcement that Italy’s ENI company has found a gas field in Egyptian territorial waters that is the “largest ever in Egypt, the Mediterranean, and probably one of the largest finds in the world.”

Egypt was previously expected to become a major buyer of Israeli natural gas from the Leviathan and Tamar fields.

The gas and oil indices dropped 13% Sunday, with Ratio, a company invested in Leviathan, losing 23% of its value. Ratio’s bonds fell by 9%, while Delek, which is invested in all of the Israeli fields, dropped 12%, losing NIS 141 million of its value.