Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi yesterday told Parliament that, as he had declared before the 2013 general election, oil and gas were present in Malta’s territorial waters.

He said advanced technology was now being used with a view to being able to extract these raw materials successfully.

He was reacting to a speech by Shadow Minister Marthese Portelli in which she criticised him for declaring during the electoral campaign that oil would be struck if Labour won the 2013 election.

The House was discussing the Petroleum Production (Amendment) Bill which would transpose an EU directive into Maltese law. The directive included the offshore oil and gas safety regulations.

Mr Mizzi said that upon taking office, the Labour government had found the oil exploration sector to have been stagnant for years, operating only with two people but with no new investment. Within two years the new administration had taken the initiative and entered into contracts with a number of foreign companies.

Before the 2013 election he produced documents to show that oil as a natural resource was present in Malta’s areas. This required drilling for oil wells, and talks with neighbouring states were under way to enter into joint activities.

The issue of the continental shelf would be tackled under a different law.

Mr Mizzi said a company which in the past had unsuccessfully drilled a well had now used advanced technology to find large reserves of gas in the same area.

The government was still working hard to attract new oil and gas exploration companies even though the sector was going through a difficult time due to the low price of oil in the international markets.

Under the new regulations, an authority would be set up to administer the directive. This would be made up of an inter-governmental committee which also included Transport Malta and Mepa.

Earlier, Dr Portelli said the Bill could have included clauses regarding the development in the hydro-carbon sector and rights linked to Malta’s continental shelf.

She said the continental shelf should be included in the definition of Malta since this area was much larger that the island’s territorial waters.

Hydro-carbons were the future sources of energy, she said, addingthat studies carried out on the continental shelf indicated that there were deposits of gas hydrates.

She called for prudence in speaking about this sector.