Malta is satisfied with the conclusions of the EU summit particularly on energy as these were in line with the Government’s policy on diversifying its energy sources, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

While confirming that Malta was still studying the possibility of having a gas pipeline with Italy, he said the country had also insisted on the need for more connections with North Africa. He said that Malta was interested in having a gas pipeline also with Libya – when this country returned to political stability.

Focusing on Malta’s current energy project, particularly on the permanent berthing of an LNG storage tanker in the port of Marsaxlokk, Dr Muscat reiterated that the tanker would be safe and posed no risks to residents.

However he said that once the gas pipeline would be in place, in some nine years time, the tanker would be removed.

Asked by timesofmalta.com what assurances he had that the tanker would be removed since the project was a private one, he said the government had already agreed with Electrogas on this possibility.

“We have already agreed with Electrogas on this possibility. It makes sense even for them as their costs would go down through a gas pipeline,” he said.

Part of the €320 million to be invested by Electrogas in this project were for the building of regassification infrastructure onshore in Delimara. This infrastructure would become obsolete once a gas pipeline was in place.