The government is expected to award the contract for a new gas power station shortly, with no appeals having been filed by the unsuccessful bidders. A government spokesman confirmed that Enemalta was now ironing out the final logistical details with the successful bidder - Electrogas - and the contract is  expected to be signed shortly.

Electrogas was the only consortium among the 19 bidders to have Maltese shareholding. It beat international competitors in the oil and gas industry including Shell, Gazprom and Edison.

The bidder that was placed second, US-based Endeavour Energy, got nearly as many points as the successful consortium.

Enemalta was now ironing out the final logistical details with the successful bidder

Electrogas, which is expected to invest some €370 million in the project, is led by Gasol – “a tiny listed company” on the London Stock Exchange – and includes Azeri State company Socar, German engineering giant Siemens and the Maltese arm of GEM Holdings.

With a 30 per cent stake, GEM Holdings is made up of the Tumas and Gasan groups together with a medicines-import company, CP Holdings, owned by Paul Apap Bologna.

Mr Apap Bologna, unknown in the energy sector, sits on the board of the new company with Yorgen Fenech and Mark Gasan.

In an interview with the London-based International Oil Daily, Gasol CEO Alex Buxton said after the announcement of the preferred bidder: “The success of the project depended on the recent landslide victory of the Labour Party at the polls.”

He said the Maltese government “fast-tracked the project in a first step to achieve its goal” of reducing energy tariffs by 20 per cent.

Labour has always denied striking a deal before the election.