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Kurt Sansone
Government remains tight-lipped on its negotiations with Libya on the long-standing dispute over oil exploration to the south of Malta with Foreign Minister Michael Frendo saying that joint exploration was only one of the options on the table.
Minister Frendo was reacting to comments made by former finance and foreign minister John Dalli who told sister publication Business Today on Wednesday that joint oil exploration of the disputed areas was the best solution to get out of the impasse.
It is unclear what “other options” Frendo was referring to when speaking to The Times on Thursday.
Oil experts talking to MaltaToday believe that short of an agreement that delineates the international border in the disputed area once and for all, the only feasible way out is to enter into a joint exploration effort with the Libyans. The border dispute with Libya has dragged on since the early eighties and surfaces each time Malta attempts to engage in exploration efforts in the area.
Pancontinental Oil, the Australian company currently engaged in oil exploration by government in an area to the south of Malta, late last year said that two particular areas it was surveying held world class oil prospects. But further studies in the zones had to be postponed by six months on the request of the Maltese government until the dispute with Libya was resolved.
According to Dalli, during his brief stay at the foreign ministry in 2004, the Maltese government had already initiated negotiations with Libya over joint exploration of oil to the south of Malta.
The former cabinet member said that it was highly unlikely that a dispute that has been dragging on for years will be solved in six months.
“I think this is the only plausible solution (joint oil exploration). During my last term in cabinet this was one of the solutions I was talking about with the Libyans. I do not know if this line of action was subsequently followed up,” Dalli said.
The Libyans already have a similar arrangement with Tunisia.
“There is no reason why Libya should refuse a similar arrangement with Malta,” the former foreign minister said.
Talking to The Times a day after Dalli’s interview in Business Today, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo said the issue was a complex one and “any comments at this moment may prejudice the issue.”
ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt
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