The government is seeking to shorten the approval process for natural gas terminals for offshore fields. Prime Minister's Office director general Harel Locker is heading a team that has formulated proposals for shortening the planning times and approval procedures for four coastal and two marine terminals, so that the procedures will be completed no later than August 2013. Locker estimates that this would shave two years off the normal planning time for such facilities.
Locker told "Globes" that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed him to find a solution, after the government's failure to obtain a permit to build a gas terminal in the Dor Beach area. In June 2010, the National Planning and Building Commission rejected by a large majority a proposal by Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) to build a terminal. The vote came against the background of a widespread public campaign by local residents and environmental groups against the terminal on NIMBY (not in my backyeard) grounds.
Break the bureaucracy
The rejection of the terminal has delayed connection of the Tamar gas production platform to the Israeli coast by several months, and it is now scheduled for April 2013. The delay has caused substantial financial damage to the economy, following the halt in gas deliveries from Egypt, which has left Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) almost without gas. Locker estimates the damage from not building the gas terminals at NIS 10 billion a year. "The prime minister told me to break the bureaucracy," he says. "We're determined to shorten the timetable because the damage to the economy is unreasonable." He added that if the present targets were not met, the government would consider enacting legislation.
The proposal includes expanding planning teams and carrying out planning procedures in parallel. For example, the environmental impact statement would be drawn upsimultaneously with the detailed planning of a facility. Local authorities will also be promised economic and environmental incentives, such as the development of parks, to agree to the construction of the terminals in their jurisdiction.
Locker adds that transferring most of the handling of gas to offshore terminals removes most of the environmental burden as far as local residents and environmental organizations are concerned. "We have shortened the timetables by expanding the teams and working in parallel, without harming the quality of the planning and the public's right to a hearing," he says.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 6, 2012
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