The government is pushing for EU funding to develop a new gas link with Italy that involves an offshore Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) moored some 12 kilometres outside Marsaxlokk Bay.

At the height of the controversy over having an LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk for the new power station, the government was arguing that it would not be safe to place the tanker offshore due to navigational and other technical problems, including security of supply.

Meanwhile in Brussels, however, the Ministry of Finance was planning the opposite and pushing for the establishment of an offshore facility.

The project, earmarked for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility, involves the building of a submarine gas pipeline between Malta and Gela in Italy.

According to preliminary designs submitted by the government, the link will be connected to an offshore FSRU, 150km from Gela and 12km from Malta just outside territorial waters.

The proposal involves the pumping of some 1.1 million cubic metres of re-gasified gas per day to fire the new power station.

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