Malta eyes cheap Libyan oil, after Qatari talks
NTC undersecretary for oil and gas suggests joint meeting for Maltese technical team.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has been in discussions with the Libyan undersecretary at the ministry of oil and gas, Umar Shakmak, over Malta's hopes of obtaining assured supplies of Libyan oil and gas products on favourable terms, the English-language Libyan Herald has reported.
Shakmak was quoted in the NTC website suggesting during a joint meeting that a Maltese technical team be appointed to discuss the matter with specialists from the Libya National Oil Corporation.
"The two men are reported to have discussed other aspects of joint cooperation between Libya and Malta and ways of strengthening them," the Libyan Herald reported.
In February, Libya said it would review a request by the Jordanians to assure their oil and petroleum product needs at preferential prices.
Fenech will lead a Malta Enterprise delegation to Libya between April 16 and 19. It will, however, concentrate on ports and maritime services.
At the end of February, Fench told a business forum on Libya that Malta identified itself strongly with Libya and wanted to play a strong role in its future.
MaltaToday revealed that Tonio Fenech also held meetings in Doha with Qatar's minister for energy and industry Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada.
The meeting - held in the presence of Frank Galea, Malta's newly-appointed ambassador to the Gulf States - was held at the Qatar Petroleum headquarters and was also attended by senior officials of QP and Qatar Petroleum International.
Fenech said that "government acknowledged that the important thing was to find an alternative solution to weathering this temporary spike in oil prices."
He said that government's ultimate priority was to safeguard employment, industry and businesses.