NewMed and Ratio Cancel Massive $6.7 Billion Gas Deal With Dalia

NewMed Energy, which holds about 45% of the Leviathan gas reservoir, announced to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that it is canceling, together with Ratio Energies which holds 15%, the massive $6.7 billion gas supply deal with Dalia power stations. The deal covered both the Dalia 2 power station at the Tzafit site and the Abshel power station planned for the Eshkol site, which is the largest power plant privatized from Israel Electric Corporation. Dalia expressed surprise at the announcement and is refusing to accept the cancellation.

It appears that NewMed is calling off the deal due to antitrust concerns and an assessment that the Competition Authority would not approve the transaction. The Competition Authority recently blocked another massive deal this week, demanding that Union Investments sell its holdings in Super-Pharm in order to acquire the credit card company CAL for up to 4 billion shekels. In 2024, the authority also blocked another major merger in the sector involving the acquisition of Isracard.

Nevertheless, Dalia is rejecting the cancellation notice, viewing it as premature. NewMed reportedly does not have to pay a penalty for the cancellation, arguing that the precedent conditions required to execute the deal were not met. If this dispute is not resolved soon, it may well end up in court.

The gas supply deal for the two new power stations was signed in May 2026 at a relatively low price of $4.7 per thermal unit. This low rate stemmed from NewMed's commitment to supply domestic market gas at a cheap price as a condition for exporting gas to Egypt. It remains unclear how the cancellation will affect NewMed's ability to export gas, if at all. Notably, Chevron, the operator of Israel's two giant reservoirs Tamar and Leviathan, was absent from the original deal.