[ANALYSIS] Three bids for Labour’s promise

With the big multinationals giants like Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell, the French Soffimat, the South Korean Daewoo and the Italo-French Edison axed from the original list of 19 bidders, only three relatively obscure consortia remain in the bidding for a contract to supply Enemalta with gas for 18 years through the development of Malta's first privately owned power station.

Two of the three remaining bidders have a direct Maltese connection; ElectroGas through the participation of Tumas and Gasan groups - in a consortium which includes the State energy company of Azerbaijan - and Turkish Yildirim through its ownership of the Freeport.

The most surprising absentee among the final list of bidders is Edison, the second largest power producer in Italy and in Greece. The selection of this bidder would also have strengthened ties between Italy and Malta, which will also be linked with the Malta-Sicily interconnector. Moreover, a Malta-Italy oil and gas summit is due to take place in Rome on 31 October.

Edison, a world player, also has direct experience in the LNG sector, operating an LNG off shore terminal in Rovigo in Italy. 

Interestingly, one of the three remaining bidders includes US interests that could balance the growing Chinese influence through the acquisition of part of Enemalta by a State-owned Chinese company.

The winner of the tender will provide natural gas at a fixed price for the first five years of an 18-year agreement. Enemalta, which will be partly Chinese-owned, will be committed to buy fuel from the company to fuel its own power station, while the new operator will also sell energy directly produced in its own power station. The new operator will own the LNG terminal providing gas for both power stations. This will practically put the fuel procurement process to an end, as the energy supply will be devolved to one company.

Electro Gas Consortium

Electro Gas Malta is the only company which includes direct Maltese participation through GEM Holdings - a company owned by Gasan Group Limited and Tumas Group Limited. Tumas Group is no stranger to joint bids with foreign companies. In 2006, Tumas Group had teamed up Portek Group of Singapore to form Valletta Gateway Terminals, which won the bid for the liberalised port services. In 2009, Tumas Group teamed up with Arriva to win the bid for the liberalised public transport system. Tumas Group was instrumental in securing Arriva, the Chinese build bus fleet, but sold its shares a few months after the company-started operations in Malta.

The consortium also includes Socar Trading SA, owned by the state oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Siemens Project Ventures - a subsidiary of the German multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate - and UK-based Gasol Plc.

Siemens was the manufacturer of the 132kV Switchgear for the BWSC plant in Delimara.  Before the election, Evarist Bartolo had repeatedly questioned the participation of the company in the BWSC bid in a series of articles highlighting the company's questionable record.

The company's track record included the conviction of a former manager by a Munich court in 2008. The man was sentenced to two years probation and fined €108,000. In 2009, the World Bank Group announced a comprehensive settlement with Siemens AG in the wake of the company's acknowledged past misconduct in its global business and a World Bank investigation into corruption in a project in Russia involving a Siemens subsidiary. The settlement included a commitment by Siemens to pay $100 million over the next 15 years to support anti-corruption work, an agreement to a debarment of up to four years for the company's Russian subsidiary and a voluntary two-year block from bidding on bank business for Siemens AG and all of its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates.

As part of the settlement, Siemens also agreed to cooperate to change industry practices, clean up procurement practices and engage in collective action with the World Bank Group to fight fraud and corruption.

SOCAR - the State-owned Energy Company of Azerbaijan - produces oil and natural gas and operates the country's two oil refineries and the running of oil and gas pipelines throughout the country. The company is also becoming a major international player. In Romania, SOCAR is planning a petrochemical refinery complex to supply European countries with oil products. Greece is set to agree to the sale of its natural gas grid operator DESFA to SOCAR.

The State-owned Azerbaijani Energy Company was embroiled in controversy after its involvement in the demolition of houses on the outskirts of Baku just before the 2012 Eurovision contest. 

Company employees were accused of beating a journalist reporting protests  against the evictions.  In 2012 investigative journalist Shavalad Chobanoghlu challenged Azerbaijan's Supreme Court refusal to order the state oil company to disclose funding for its new multimillion-dollar headquarters: the $250 million SOCAR towers, which dominate the Baku skyline.

Gasol Plc is a UK-based gas company, whose website states that it "intends to purchase stranded gas assets in Nigeria and other countries along the Gulf of Guinea". Gasol's primary geographic focus is the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), together with Mauritania.

The company website states that the Company aims to sign gas sales agreements for regasified LNG.

"Gasol will procure the supply and delivery of LNG from its own resources or the global energy market to a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) permanently moored at the nearest port to the power plant". 

This is one of the options being considered by the Maltese government. Gasol claims that floating regasification compares favourably to traditional onshore LNG receiving terminals due to shorter construction periods and a lower capital cost of implementation.

In 2012, Gasol plc signed a strategic alliance agreement with SOCAR in relation to Gasol's proposed LNG import project in Benin.

Under the terms of the agreement, SOCAR will supply all LNG required for the project and assist Gasol with the provision of a floating gas storage and regasification vessel in the harbor at Cotonou, Benin. The project involves the regasification of LNG and the supply of that gas to power and industrial customers in Benin, Togo and Ghana.

The regasified LNG will be routed to the West African Gas Pipeline, a 678 km pipeline built to transport gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana.

Yildirim Tecnicas Consortium

Yildirim Consortium includes Turkish owned Yildirim Holding AS and the Spanish Tecnicas. The Turkish company already owns 50 per cent of Malta Freeport.

The diverse industrial company, founded in 1963 by the Yildirim family as a construction materials trading firm, now has assets and operations in ports, mining and ferroalloys, fertilisers, coal and coke, shipbuilding and construction.

The company has embarked on a global shopping spree buying a $1 billion portfolio consisting of energy, metals and ports in the past year.

Yildirim bought the shares from CMA CGM for €200 million in 2012. The Maltese government and Malta Freeport Corporation approved the transfer in November 2011. In 2004, CMA CGM received a 30-year concession from the government to operate Malta Freeport, extended in 2008 to 65 years.

Yildirim Energy Investments was established by Yildirim Group in 2010 to enact power plant investments in Turkey, the Balkan ex-Soviet republics, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and China, covering a wide portfolio of renewable energy, thermal and nuclear power plants. It provides power supplies to industry, business centers and residences as well.

The company website states that its focal projects are plants for thermal power, wind power, hydroelectric power, biomass thermal power, solar power and nuclear power.

Yildirim Energy performs fuel transportation and fuel handling in-house.

Técnicas Reunidas is a Spanish-based general contractor which provides engineering, procurement and construction of industrial and power generation plants, particularly in the oil and gas sector.

Since 1959, the TRSA group of companies has designed and built over 1,000 industrial plants worldwide. International projects account for 70% of the company's annual turnover, mainly in Latin America and China.

Endeavor Energy, Exodus Crossing, BB Energy

The consortium is made up of two Texan based companies namely Endevour Energy and Exodus Crossing and the oil trading company; BB Energy. 

BB Energy was founded in Lebanon in 1937. The company website states that B.B. Energy follows 'well-respected Eastern traditions and places emphasis on fostering strong and personal relationships with our trading partners'. The company traded 11.2 million tons of crude oil and petroleum products in 2012, generating revenue of $10.5 billion.

In 2012 B.B. Energy Holdings, increased its first unsecured credit line to $125 million, taking advantage of banks' willingness to commit funds to the sector.

The company's office in Beirut is the management center for the group's worldwide activities, and particularly the relations with the governmental and national oil companies in the Middle East.

In 2008 BB Energy was named the preferred bidder in the proposed privatisation of the petroleum division of Enemalta Corporation but the deal failed to materialize.

The Houston-based Exodus Crossing website states that the company 'is committed to providing value-added transaction advisory, capital arrangement and project development services to its clients'.

Exodus Crossing's founders have been involved in over $10 billion of energy and infrastructure-related transactions including Enfield a 300MW gas-fired power project near London, UK $200,000,000.

Endeavor Energy Holdings, LLC, an independent power project company, focuses on developing and investing in power generation facilities in Africa. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Houston, Texas.

The new company intends to invest in natural gas-fired and hydroelectric power projects in Africa. Its primary focus will be to identify and develop independent power projects in mid-to-late stage development within capacity-short markets where the projects can help reduce the cost of power.

The company has the financial backing of global private equity investor Denham Capital.