If Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi thought he might be doing a spot of drilling over the next five years, he will have to think again.

Oil exploration, listed as part of his ministerial portfolio when Cabinet was announced on March 13, has now been officially named as part of Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi’s remit.

That was always the case, an Energy Ministry spokeswoman argued: “Oil exploration was never part of the Energy Ministry’s portfolio, but somehow it ended up listed there when the list of ministries was publicised.”

A spokeswoman at the Infrastructure Ministry also said that the confusion was down to a typo. “It’s a misunderstanding. Oil exploration was always assigned to this ministry,” they said.

The mix-up was clarified once and for all by last Thursday’s Government Gazette, which noted that oil exploration had been “re-assigned” to Joe Mizzi’s ministry.

Two other sectors also shifted ministry, with the land registry becoming part of Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia’s portfolio, and the national library and archives lifted out of the Tourism Ministry and into the Education Ministry.