The granting of permits by the Maltese government for oil exploration off Malta was recently in the news. An interesting piece of information seems to have been overlooked.

The man in charge of Malta’s oil exploration effort is none other than former BP boss Tony Hayward, who has acquired 75 per cent of the participating interest in Area 4 offshore Malta.

Hayward, who, incidentally, will be a main speaker at The Economics conference this week, was in charge of one of the oil companies involved in the Gulf Rig explosion in 2010, which sparked the largest oil spill in US history.

US President Barack Obama had publicly stated that he would have fired Hayward for the way he handled the oil spill after having irresponsibly said that the environmental impact would be “modest” and that he wanted his “life back”.

BP’s Hayward and other executives from other oil companies failed to assume responsibility during congressional hearings into the disaster in 2010.

This is the same man this country has decided to entrust with the safety of its waters.

The Maltese government and Joseph Muscat seem to be happy to hire someone ditched by Obama.