Unrest in Ukraine has sparked energy supply fears. Photo: Reuters

The Ukraine-Russia looming gas crisis has prompted a high-level ministerial conference in Malta next month to discuss alternatives to Europe’s energy supply, the Office of the Prime Minister said.

The conference will look into how the Mediterranean can serve as an alternative source, route and supply of energy to Europe, reducing the EU’s dependency on Russian gas.

The Ukraine-Russia crisis took centre stage in discussions held at the Energy Council Meeting in Luxembourg on Friday, where Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger called for an end to the status quo.

This will require a Euro-Med vision towards a new Mediterranean energy corridor to feed in the European energy market.

For this to work, the necessary infrastructure, such as LNG terminals, pipelines, interconnectors and exploration facilities, is required to provide a sustainable and efficient energy supply to Europe. This would have to be supported by EU funding.

This will be the focus of discussions at the conference to be held in Malta on July 10 and 11 entitled ‘The Security of Gas Supply – The Role of Gas Developments in the Mediterranean Region’. It will host 28 EU energy ministers, 10 non-EU Mediterranean ministers, the European Commission and key stakeholders in the field.

The conference will have two sessions, the first being a ministers’ conference involving ministers from the EU and North Africa that will be chaired by Commissioner Oettinger and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.

The second part of the conference, organised jointly by Malta and Cyprus, will bring together key stakeholders in gas exploration, production, storage, infrastructure and distribution in the Mediterranean. Key players and world authorities will address the event.

The energy ministry said that in recent months Malta has been at the forefront in giving the Mediterranean a more prominent role within the EU on energy issues.