(Updated)
Two offshore oil exploration wells are to be drilled by 2011, the Oil Exploration Department said today.
Reacting to comments in Parliament this morning by Labour MP Joe Mizzi, the department said the government was making every effort to promote and sustain exploration activity in offshore Malta.
Heritage Oil International Malta Ltd., signed a Production Sharing Contract with the government in December 2007 and is contractually obliged to drill at least one well by 2010.
Malta Oil Pty Ltd., signed a similar Production Sharing Contract with the government in July 2008 and is also contractually obliged to drill at least one well by 2011.
“It is to be noted that oil companies interested in entering into a production sharing contract with the government are required to have adequate financial and technical capabilities to ensure that they fulfil the contractual obligations,” the department said.
In his comments, Mr Mizzi insisted that oil could be found off Malta, particularly around Gozo, but the government was, inexplicably, not doing all it could for oil exploration to be successful.
Mr Mizzi said Labour government efforts at oil exploration had tailed off under the Nationalist government and not enough was being done to attract oil companies to Malta.
He said that oil quantities around Malta might not be enough to attract major oil companies, but they would certainly be viable for Malta.
He said that a small oil company had been interested in oil exploration off Malta but as the government dithered, the credit crunch came about and this company was now unable to further its interest.
This government, he said, had lost chances in oil exploration, to the country's detriment.
Replying, Resources Minister George Pullicino wondered how anyone could think that the government would pass over any opportunity to strike oil.
He said Mr Mizzi had been making claims about the presence of oil for quite some time, but never said where the oil was. He was free to attract whichever oil exploration company he wished if he was so convinced that oil could be struck.