Enemalta restructuring plans announced
Bunkering operations to cease
The government yesterday announced it has shelved its privatisation plans for the Mediterranean Offshore Bunkering Co Ltd and that it would cease bunkering operations altogether.
Investments Minister Austin Gatt also revealed that Enemalta was about to start commercialising its fuel supplies by selling them on the open market and seal off the fuel plant in Birzebbuga, as part of wide-ranging restructuring plans for the corporation.
The decisions, taken during a Cabinet meeting last week, were a major step towards redirecting the corporation back on a viable route, Dr Gatt told a news conference.
Situated in the Grand Harbour, MOBC has supplied vessels directly by pipeline or by its bunkering barges since it started operating as a monopoly in 1982. The market was restructured in the 1990s, and in 2001 the government decided to pull out of bunkering operations and embarked upon a privatisation process.
Dr Gatt said the government had decided to pull the plug on the privatisation process because the price offered by the interested partners was unacceptable.
Enemalta would utilise the MOBC facilities in the harbour to store fuel, while the technical and administrative workers would be integrated into the corporation.
Birzebbuga residents will welcome the decision to close the fuel storage eyesore, which has been a blemish in their town since 1919.
Dr Gatt explained that this facility had led to the seepage of fuel into the rock and into the sea, and also had a detrimental effect on the value of property.
The plans are to close the facility some time between 2005 and 2007 and the area would be decontaminated and rehabilitated. New storage tanks for the distribution of petrol would be built, possibly at Has-Saptan.
Enemalta currently owns five storage facilities - at Has-Saptan, Kordin, Luqa, Wied Dalam, and the March 31 storage facility in Birzebbuga. An EU directive states that countries are obliged to have stocks of oil reserves that would last for a specific period of time.
Dr Gatt explained that Enemalta would be facing potential competition in the fuel sector from January 2006, and it was therefore essential to concentrate on its core business.
The corporation would be seeking to commercialise its fuel sector by either forming a strategic partnership or a joint venture. The company's assets would not, however, be sold.
Dr Gatt said this would create synergies with multinational companies and an improvement in competitiveness, and lure foreign investment.