Bini Zomer has been all over.
He grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attended the University of Texas, went to law school in St. Louis, practiced law and got married in Chicago, and finally made Aliyah from Potomac, Maryland to Modi’in in 2010.
And he is about to assume the position of country manager for Noble Energy, which discovered and is now processing Israel’s offshore gas reserves – two of the three largest discoveries made worldwide in the last decade.
Before he made Aliyah with his wife and three daughters in 2010, Zomer worked on Capitol Hill as a lobbyist for AIPAC. Through this work he furthered better cooperation between Israel and the United States regarding energy projects.
When he moved to Israel, he got a job with Noble Energy, as their Director of Corporate Affairs – using his previous experience to liaise with government bodies, the media, and to engage in community outreach.
Noble Energy is a US-based oil and gas exploration company, which has been exploring the Mediterranean region (Israel and Cyprus) since 1998. Together with the Israeli government and the Israel Electric Company, Noble discovered huge natural reserves off of Israel’s coast, and is now poised to transform Israel from an energy importer to an exporter of natural gas.
This will help strengthen Israel’s relations with Jordan, Egypt, and other neighboring countries, and the economic benefits are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions. As well, there are significant environmental benefits to the discovery of the more environmentally-friendly natural gas, by reducing C02 emission by millions of metric tons.
As of October 1st, Zomer will be assume his new position; reporting to Noble’s headquarters in Houston, managing Noble’s 175 Israeli employees and interfacing with over 20 customers. He considers himself blessed to be working and contributing to a venture that is so important and beneficial to Israel’s economy and environment, one which has the potential to reverse Israel’s energy dependency.
“Israel is not as orderly as the States; there is no Hebrew word for ‘single file line’,” laughs Zomer. “But it’s important to remember that despite the challenges, there is no better place for you to live or raise your kids. Deal with the challenges as they come; and once you get past the hassle, remember, Israel is a great country and it’s all worth it.”
