Chevron announced July 20 it would buy the Noble Energy company for about $5 billion. The acquisition marks the biggest American energy deal to be signed since the novel coronavirus crisis crushed global demand for oil.

Noble Energy has a portfolio of assets that include offshore wells in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including off Israel’s coast, off the west African coast and onshore in the United States. Naturally, from Jerusalem’s point of view, the deal could have far-reaching repercussions on the country’s own energy market and its aspirations of becoming a global energy player. In its press release announcing the acquisition, Chevron stated, "Noble Energy brings low-capital, cash-generating offshore assets in Israel, strengthening Chevron’s position in the Eastern Mediterranean."

Noble Energy has stakes in both Israel’s mammoth gas fields Tamar and Leviathan. It was Noble Energy that discovered Tamar in 2009 and Leviathan in 2010. In 2013, the company started producing gas in the Tamar field, and in December 2019, the company started production of natural gas from Leviathan, the firm’s largest discovery to date. Tamar holds some 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, about half of the amount in Leviathan. Noble also has a stake in Israel's offshore Dalit field.

Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz — who has been spearheading Israeli gas drilling initiatives, including the East-Med project for a natural gas undersea pipeline — reacted enthusiastically to the news. Welcoming the deal, Steinitz wrote, “The acquisition of Noble Energy by the energy giant Chevron is a tremendous expression of confidence in the Israeli energy economy, and in the continued development and export of natural gas from the State of Israel." Steinitz added that his ministry will examine the request for the transfer of ownership to the fields once it is submitted, as Israeli law requires the approval of the country’s petroleum council for such a move.