There may be no deadline yet for completion works on the Delimara gas power station but key posts for the gas-handling element of the project are being filled.
Malaysian company Bumi Armada, through its Maltese subsidiary Armada Floating Gas Services, is advertising for the post of operations manager for the liquefied natural gas tanker that will act as a floating storage for the power station.
Bumi Armada was awarded a €283 million contract in April last year by Electrogas, the consortium tasked to build and operate the gas power station and LNG terminal, to convert, supply and operate a floating storage unit.
The contract is for 18 years, which is the same timeframe that was negotiated between Enemalta and Electrogas for the supply of electricity and gas.
Armada is seeking an operations manager with 10 years’ experience working at a gas plant, preferably a floating storage unit. The call for applications says the individual will have had at least five years’ experience as a plant manager. The applicant must be a master or chief engineer. The call, which was advertised in Malta and abroad last week, closes on July 15.
Armada is seeking an operations manager with 10 years’ experience working at a gas plant, preferably a floating storage unit
Other key posts at the LNG terminal side of the gas project also started being advertised internationally through TTI, an Austrian recruitment agency based in Malta. The posts vary from that of a re-gassification superintendent to an administrator to a logistics coordinator. It is unclear whether the posts advertised by TTI are being offered by Armada or Electrogas.
The ship, an LNG carrier, is currently being converted into a storage unit in Singapore. No date has been given yet for its delivery but a report in a specialised gas industry news portal last December had indicated the third quarter of this year. Without the LNG storage, the power station, which is at a very advanced state of construction, cannot operate.
Minister Without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi, when giving an overview of developments last Saturday during a Gvern Li Jisma’ (Government that Listens) event, did not give a new deadline for the gas power station.
In its electoral manifesto the government had pledged to get the gas infrastructure and power station running by March 2015.
The deadline subsequently slipped to June 2016 after plans were revised. But even this deadline has been pushed into the future with the latest indication being a vague “summer” completion date.