Planning board to decide on demolition of Shell fuel depot

The Planning Authority’s case officer has recommended approval for the dismantling and demolition of the former 31st March petroleum installation in Birżebbuġa.

The Planning Board is due to take a final decision on the application on 12 February. The application has been pending approval for the past 10 years.

Submitted by Enemalta plc, it seeks full development permission to decommission the disused fuel storage facility close to Pretty Bay.

Commissioned in the 1920s and widely known as the Shell installation, the depot was developed during the British colonial period as a coastal fuel storage and distribution hub. Petroleum products were offloaded directly from ships berthed at a purpose-built jetty and stored in large onshore tanks before being distributed by road tankers across Malta.

The Marsaxlokk Bay Local Plan, approved in 1995, had already called for the long-term relocation and removal of the fuel depot.

Fuel storage operations at the site ceased following the commissioning of a new depot at Ħas-Saptan, near the airport. The Birżebbuġa fuel plant was closed in the summer of 2021. With the relocation completed, Enemalta is now seeking permission to dismantle the obsolete installation.

The decommissioning process is expected to take some time and MaltaToday understands that a significant amount of work has already been conducted. In June 2024, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli announced that the fuel storage facility had been cleared of all fuel residue, paving the way for the dismantling of the tanks and the transformation of the ex-Shell jetty into a pedestrian zone.

The case officer’s report states that only after the site is formally cleared of dangerous substances can above-ground tanks, buildings and pipelines be dismantled. The process will also allow for detailed investigations into land and groundwater contamination that has accumulated over decades of fuel storage.

The Environment and Resources Authority concluded that the project does not require an environmental impact assessment and described the overall impact as beneficial.

However, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage acknowledged the site’s industrial heritage value and recommended that selected historic structures, including parts of the boundary wall and older tanks, be considered for preservation and adaptive reuse in any future redevelopment.

The permit does not propose any after-use, redevelopment, or new land use for the site. No other planning applications have been submitted for the site yet. However, plans to regenerate the jetty into a pedestrian area with access to the sea were unveiled on the eve of the 2022 general election by the minister.