Malta and Italy have informally agreed to impose a moratorium on oil exploration activities in a vast offshore area southeast of Sicily and Malta where both countries have overlapping claims.

Italian Ambassador Giovanni de Vito confirmed the existence of this informal agreement but denied that it is linked to Italy’s policy of taking in all the migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, which include those in Malta’s search and rescue zone.  

“What’s different now is that there is a change in policy by the Italian government to have in place confidence-building measures on migration with the Maltese government and even with the EU,” the ambassador said. However, he denied that these confidence-building measures entailed Malta giving up some of its claims to oil exploration, particularly on the continental shelf.

In 2012 Italy unilaterally doubled its claim on the continental shelf stretching from the southeast Sicily towards Libya. Malta had formally protested as the decision significantly affected its maritime territory claims, particularly on two blocks close to Libya with the highest potential for oil and gas reserves. 

More in The Sunday Times of Malta.

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