Miles A Seaman, a reputable independent expert who has worked on an extensive number of gas and energy projects has given a presentation about the safety concerns and the issue of timeframes of Labour’s energy proposal. Mr Seaman stressed “he was not engaged by anyone but only wanted to present an opinion from his experience.”

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in an introduction reminded the Labour Party that the public is still waiting for examples for a fixed Gas Power Purchase Agreement with a duration of 10 years.

Mr Seaman explained how a “Gas Pipeline is a lot safer than an LNG Terminal and when an LNG Terminal is used the Gas is stored far away from where it would be used.”

Timeframes were also questioned, especially considering that safety studies would take around 9 months to finish. He continued by saying that such projects would realisticly take around 3 to 5 years. He also continued by stressing that anything can be done but it would be expensive.

“When it comes to the importation of Gas, Malta may need to build the ships to import Gas to Malta because the ships used are far larger than the storage Labour are poposing.” At that point Mr Seaman also questioned the issue of economies of scale, saying that the project is quite small and would incur larger capital costs.

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