It was reported this week that the Government of Malta and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, are close to concluding an investment by Qatargas of €1000 million in Enemalta; the main provider of energy production and distribution in the Malta. Specialist staff from Qatargas and Qatar Petroleum are expected in Malta in the coming weeks to inspect Enemalta’s new power plant which is geared to run entirely on natural gas by 2014.
The sizeable investment will be put to establishing Malta as a hub for Qatargas in the Mediterranean from which the distribution of natural gas to neighbouring states in Europe and North Africa will be conducted. Docking and bunkering facilities will be introduced to augment the already present facilities in order to meet the expected demands of such business operations.
As we have informed our visitors in previous posts (see below), Malta enjoys a healthy relationship with various emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This latest announcement along with the contemporaneous decision by the Government of Malta to open an Maltese Embassy in Qatar are further examples of this.
