Malta and Azerbaijan have agreed to collaborate on the development of a gas hub which would cater for local and international markets, as part of a memorandum of understanding signed last December in Baku.
The contents of this preliminary agreement are being published for the first time following a request, which Times of Malta made with the Energy Ministry earlier this week.
The MOU targets strategic collaboration in the oil and gas sector as part of the government’s vision to transform energy and petroleum sectors into key value added economic activities. To this end, both sides identified a number of key areas.
These are exploration and production, sourcing and distributing petroleum products, and strategic collaboration in trading energy commodities in the Mediterranean region. Both governments also agreed to explore the possibility of developing an infrastructure in energy-related projects in Malta.
The plan is to use this facility for storage and distribution
As for the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub, the plan is to use this facility for storage and distribution, both for local and international markets.
While the State-owned energy company Socar was mentioned as the entity entrusted with the detailed planning and implementation on behalf of the Azeri government, no such details were included on the Maltese side. The implementation would include the involvement of technical teams from the respective countries.
The MOU was signed on December 15, during talks between Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and his Azeri counterpart Natiq Aliyev in the presence of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who headed the delegation.
The trip stoked controversy due to the absence of public officials in the Maltese delegation and the government’s decision not to invite the media to cover the visit. Prior to yesterday the government had not disclosed the contents of this agreement, however, last Monday Dr Mizzi told Times of Malta he would be willing to do so if he received a formal request.
Until yesterday morning, the Prime Minister was still not forthcoming when asked about the contents of this agreement, simply saying it was just about energy.
However, shortly after midday Dr Mizzi’s spokeswoman called to inform the newsroom that a copy of this MOU had been sent by e-mail.
Last month, this issue had been raised in a parliamentary question filed by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi to the Prime Minister.
Dr Muscat had invited Dr Azzopardi to file the request with the Energy Minister. Though nine days later Dr Mizzi replied that the agreement would be tabled in “in the coming days”, this never happened.