No further consignments of oil with excessive sulphur content were received by Enemalta after it imposed a fine of $250,000 on supplier Trafigura in September 2011, an Enemalta official said yesterday.

Peter Grima, the corporation’s head of generation, said the penalty had been imposed on Trafigura for breaching contract and delivering oil outside the required specifications on four separate occasions.

However, he pointed out that the yearly average of sulphur content was still below the 0.7 per cent threshold set by Enemalta. For this reason it would have been challenging to prove in court that the supplier had breached the contract.

Mr Grima was testifying before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, which is probing the shortcomings flagged by the Auditor General on fuel procurement by Enemalta between 2008 and 2011.

The Enemalta official said that as remedial action Trafigura subsequently delivered oil whose sulphur content was far below the set limit, at the same price.

Labour MP Justyne Caruana said nevertheless, Trafigura should not be lauded for abiding by the contract from 2011 onwards, and insisted that Enemalta officials were being too sympathetic with the arguments made by the supplier. Thousands of euros paid by Enemalta to buy low sulphur oil had gone down the drain.

At the start of the sitting, committee chairman Jason Azzopardi read a letter from Enemalta CEO Charles Mangion in reply to a request made by Dr Caruana for the corporation to provide information on any instances of oil consignments outside specifications after September 2011.

In his reply, Dr Mangion said he had no objections to providing such information but at the same time warned that this had to remain in camera as it was commercial-ly sensitive.

After going through this information Dr Azzopardi said he failed to see the reason for keeping it under wraps.

The committee also received correspondence from Enemalta CEO Louis Giordimaina, who clarified that the savings on fuel costs following the installation of the BWSC plant would this year amount to more than €60 million.

The committee is expected to meet in about a fortnight when MPs and former ministers will be summoned to testify.