Noble Energy Plunges 8% As

Shares of

plunged more than 8 percent on Monday following an unfavorable ruling by Israel's Supreme Court. According to

, the Israeli High Court declared in a "historic ruling" that a prior deal with Noble Energy to extract offshore natural gas would be annuled within a year unless one of its central tenets is altered. The publication noted that the court decided to cancel the gas deal because of a stability clause that would have barred future governments from altering the deal, such as breaking up suspected monopolies. Critics of the deal also argued that the deal provided "excessively favorable terms" to the government's corporate partners. "Development of a project of this magnitude, where large investments are to be made over multiple years, requires Israel to provide a stable investment climate," David Stover, Noble Energy's CEO

in a public response. "As we have stated before, we will vigorously defend our rights related to our assets to protect shareholder value. It is now up to the Government of Israel to deliver a solution which at least meets the terms of the Framework, and to do so quickly."