In spite of the current low price of oil, the government was still intent on promoting exploration for oil and gas around Malta, Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi said in Parliament yesterday.

Replying to a question by Marthese Portelli (PN), he said the government had just extended to the end of 2016 a contract for Cairn Energy plc to evaluate information gleaned from a seismic survey it had carried out to the north of Malta last year.

Since March 2013 a licence had been issued to another company in Area 5 southwest of Malta.

Also last year, a well had been sunk to the south of Malta by Genel Energy plc.

He said that although results had not been positive, the exploration had still provided a useful source of information for exploration in the area.

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