Israel's Leviathan Field Back On Hold -- December 26, 2019

Back on December 20, 2019, I posted:

Never mind: earlier today it was reported that an Israeli judge told Delek Drilling and Noble Energy to stand down, not to produce natural gas from the Leviathan basin. Someone must have made a phone call; the order was rescinded. The operators will begin producing natural gas on December 23, 2019. 

Today, December 26, three days after production was to have begun, it looks like not all the documents were signed and notarized (LOL), link here:

The launch of production at Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field has been delayed pending permits from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

“The flow of gas from the reservoir hasn’t yet begun,” Israel’s Delek Drilling LP, a partner to the project, said Tuesday in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. “The partnership believes that it will begin in coming days, after the necessary permits are received from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.” The statement didn’t elaborate.

Environmental groups concerned about the field’s impact on air pollution and public health have been waging a protest against its operations and last week won a daylong temporary injunction from an Israeli court. They were planning to abandon their homes in towns along the shoreline for the first 24 hours of the platform’s operation.

You mean to tell me they didn't have the necessary permits before drilling? Or were the original permits lost? Are they still in the mail? And Epstein didn't hang himself.