[LIVE] Follow Tonio Fenech’s press conference on our live blog here

This press conference has ended. CLICK HERE to go the earliest post.

5:27pm Fenech says the investment in Delimara phase 2 (BWSC turbine) and the interconnector is part of the PN's plan to reduce energy prices, but also to get EU funds for a gas pipeline project that can further reduce costs.

5:26pm Fenech cannot answer a question by MaltaToday how much the report commissioned by KPMG has cost Enemalta.

5:24pm Fenech says that an offshore gas terminal would be funded by the EU because it would offer alternative pipeline connection to Europe from countries other than Russia, which currently supplies countries as far south as Italy. "So far we always studied a Malta-Sicily link for our needs, now we are considering this wider option. The difference is that our proposal connects us to Europe and qualifies us for EU funds, while Labour's proposal isolates us."

5:23pm MaltaToday's Jurgen Balzan has asked Fenech about the gas storage terminal project touted by the PN, and whether this has Qatari involvement.

5:16pm The KPMG presentation is ONLINE HERE on our Google Drive.

5:16pm "Labour is trying to make us swallow their line that this power station can be delivered in two years...  even a switchover itself requires time when going from one power station to the other. So if this project takes as long as the gas pipeline to construct, and the pipeline was suggested as the cheaper option even by Labour consultants DNV-Kema."

5:14pm Fenech says that 18 months would be the time-frame for the construction of a gas pipeline, but says there is the rest of the tendering process and other preliminary studies to take place before such a project can be effectively commissioned.

5:12pm Looks like Enemalta is uploading the KPMG report here *not yet online as we post*.

5:08pm Fenech is saying Labour's plan will mean chartering ships that are too large to carry smaller amounts of natural gas, and insists that specially built ships will have to be built, apart from being maintained throughout the years, to transport the consignments of natural gas to Malta. "Operating costs for these ships are even greater than the capital cost to build these ships - they probably cost €80 million each to build."

5:06pm "It is better to go for the gas pipeline a Nationalist government is working on, because it will deliver a cheaper cost of energy per unit produced."

5:05pm Fenech says large gas terminals away from land-based visibilty that can serve Europe fall under the EU's energy plan. He is referring to the PN's proposal to have an offshore natural gas terminal connecting Europe with a pipeline. "This is not a change in our policy, but a strategy to win European funds."

5:04pm "The KPMG report has been commissioned by Enemalta as it is within its right to do... and the report shows clearly that Labour's proposal will increase bills by 5%."

5:03pm Fenech is insisting that Labour's plan will cost €600 million and the PL should publish all health and safety, maritime and infrastructure reports if Labour is to be judged by the seriousness and detail of its plan.

5:01pm One TV (Labour) journalist is asking Fenech why KPMG advisors are not here to answers questions on this report, and whether the report has been financed by government. Fenech is qualifying his role: "I am still a minister... the report is published on the Enemalta website."

4:59pm Fenech says a detailed report from KPMG, available ont the Enemalta website (we cannot find it yet) shows that Labour's ambitious project will deliver higher costs for energy.

4:57pm The total cost of energy will increase by 5%, Fenech says - which translates directly into a 5% increase in prices.

4:53pm Fenech says the 9c6 per unit of energy produced by Labour's purported energy mix (40% from a gas powered 200MW power station, 40% from Delimara phase 2, and 20% from the interconnector) is incorrect: "The cost will be 12c5, apart from all operational costs, that is the cost of the distribution system, and the repayment of capital costs.

4:50pm "It is impossible to have this project completed in two years" - Fenech says, adding that a new 200MW power station "is not needed" when the government is already underway with plans for a 200MW underwater electricity interconnector.

4:49pm Again Fenech points out that a 10-year hedging agreement on gas is not possible due to the changes in market prices for natural gas, and that the only reason Labour is going for this option to import LNG into harbour to a gas terminal, is only due to shorter time-frames.

4:46pm Fenech says Labour's estimates "are out of mark" by €200 million, saying that the bills will have to reflect capital costs for the infrastructure required for the PL plan.

4:45pm Fenech said he will publish costings by auditors KPMG, which show Muscat's proposal will cost €105 for every €100 that people pay for their utility bills today.

4:44pm Finance minister Tonio Fenech is addressing on a press conference in which he will say that Labour's proposal for a gas terminal and new power station will raise energy bills, not make them cheaper.