Malta Should Search For Oil And Gas In Response To Energy Crisis, PN MP Urges
Malta should reactivate its quest to search for oil and gas on its continental shelf in light of the war in Ukraine, PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut has proposed.
“All European and Mediterranean countries have increased their number of oil and gas extraction licenses, however the reverse happened in Malta,” Sammut said today.
“The Maltese continental shelf has a lot of potential but nothing is being done to encourage exploration.”
“We remain the only country that doesn’t recognise geology as a profession and the only country that never publishes data from past explorations so that it can be studied by others interested in identifying the best zones for new exploration.”
Sammut told Lovin Malta that it is “very likely” that Malta could strike oil or gas, seeing as the island has a huge continental shelf, while oil and gas exploration is taking place all around.
“However, oil companies are not encouraged to invest in exploring here, mainly for two reasons – we don’t have an official geological service, and we keep all past data hidden,” he said.
The MP spoke out after Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, who is responsible for oil and gas exploration, confirmed in Parliament that there are currently no active Maltese licenses for oil and gas exploration and extraction.
This makes 2022 the first year this century that Malta hasn’t had a single active license for oil and gas exploration, with the number ranging between two and five since 2000.
Interest in acquiring such licenses has also slowed down considerably in recent years – while eight licenses were issued between 2000 and 2008, only three have been issued since then.
In its 2017 election manifesto, the Labour Party had promised to set up a new government agency to focus on “all issues related to oil exploration”.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana
However, Lovin Malta reported last year that a National Oil Corporation which the government of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat set up in 2017 had been defunct since at least 2019.
Caruana then said that Malta must resolve certain territorial issues with Libya before proceeding with oil exploration.
There was no mention of oil exploration in the PL’s victorious 2022 election manifesto.
Gas prices have surged across Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year, with many countries responding by increasing electricity and fuel bills.
Malta has been saved from this fate thanks to subsidies worth several millions of euro but these have forced the government to embark on a cost-cutting exercise.
As Europe seeks for solutions, Eastern Mediterranean countries like Israel, Egypt and Cyprus that have struck significant quantities of gas have emerged among potential alternatives.
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