Dutch oil group leads race for Petroleum Division

A Dutch oil group, BB Energy BV, has been named first bidder in the commercialisation of Enemalta's Petroleum Division.

The division is responsible for the importation, storage and distribution of all petroleum products and liquid petroleum gas in Malta.

After the court turned down a request by Attard Services Limited (ASL) in September to stop the commercialisation process, the Ministry of Finance, with the Cabinet's authorisation, informed the Privatisation Unit that the government had accepted the recommendations of the adjudicating committee.

The committee had recommended that BB Energy BV be named first ranking bidder and, accordingly, the group has been invited to attend a meeting to start negotiations. If negotiations prove successful the group will take charge of the operation, maintenance and development of Enemalta's Petroleum Division and the business activities undertaken by Mediterranean Offshore Bunkering Company Ltd (MOBC).

ASL's request, rejected on September 17, was the second application for the issue of a prohibitory injunction filed this year against Enemalta. The first application had also been rejected by the First Hall.

The chosen Netherlands-based group mainly focuses on trading, storing and distributing oil largely in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean region. Enemalta is also set to face competition as two new companies, Fuel Energy Ltd and Island Petroleum Services Ltd, were given the green light last month to start importing fuel independently and offer it at different rates to petrol stations and other distributors. It is not yet known in which fuel sectors the two new companies will compete with Enemalta.

The licences were issued to the two private companies on October 26, following the start of legal proceedings against Malta by the European Commission when it delayed opening up the fuel market as it was supposed to have done by 2006 as per the Accession Treaty.

This led the government to adopt a new energy market policy and open it up for competition in October 2007.