Enemalta did not receive any further consignments of off-spec oil after the imposition of a $250,000 fine on Trafigura in September 2011 for making four consignments with higher sulphur content than specified in the contracts, the corporation's Head of Electricity Generation, Peter Grima told the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee this evening.
The committee is discussing a report by the Auditor-General which flagged a number of shortcomings in Enemalta's fuel procurement procedures between 2008 and 2011.
The Enemalta official was replying to a question by committee chairman Jason Azzopardi.
Labour MP Justyne Caruana said that nevertheless Trafigura should not be lauded for this. as it was contractually bound to deliver low-sulphur oil.
She added that Enemalta had forked out thousands of euro in premium to have low levels of sulphur, when in actual fact the product was not according to specification.
Mr Grima said that as remedial action subsequently Trafigura delivered oil whose sulphur content was way below the 0.7 per cent threshold. This would have cost much more than the premium paid by Enemalta.
Overall, the annual average was below spec, but Enemalta still fined the supplier. He also remarked that it would have been very difficult to prove in court that the supplier had breached the contract.
The Enemalta official said that in financial terms Enemalta had made a slight profit.
Dr Azzopardi read correspondence from Enemalta chairman Charles Mangion on off-spec consignments after the 2011 incident. Dr Mangion said that while such information was being provided, this had to remain 'in camera' as it was commercially sensitive. Dr Azzopardi said that after going through the reply he could not understand what was so sensitive about this information.
The committee also received correspondence from current Enemalta CEO Louis Giordimaina on the savings on fuel costs following the installation of the BWSC plant. He said that the corporation had saved €15 million in the first quarter. This would add up to over €60 million a year or 1.2 million per week.
The meeting is still in progress.