Exploratory drilling off Israel’s northern coast this week has confirmed the

existence of a major natural gas field — one of the world’s largest offshore gas finds of the past decade — leading the country’s infrastructure minister to call it “the most important energy news since the founding of the state.”

Houston ­based Noble Energy, which is working with several Israeli partner companies, said

that the field, named Leviathan, whose existence was suspected months ago, has at least 16

trillion cubic feet of gas at a likely market value of tens of billions of dollars and should turn

Israel into an energy exporter....continue reading