{"id":556596,"date":"2026-04-29T08:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/556596\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:50:10","slug":"malta-eyes-new-short-term-gas-deal-amid-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/556596\/","title":{"rendered":"Malta eyes new short-term gas deal amid uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government\u00a0will\u00a0enter into\u00a0a \u201cshort-term\u201d\u00a0gas\u00a0purchasing\u00a0agreement\u00a0after Malta\u2019s ongoing hedging system expires in August, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That agreement should take Malta\u2019s gas supply to the end of 2027 when the LNG market is expected to be\u00a0more favourable, she said.\u00a0\u201cEnemalta is making sure to have a secure supply of LNG at a good price,\u201d Dalli said\u00a0on Thursday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miriam Dalli on hedging agreement<\/p>\n

As the Iran war progressed, fears have grown that Iran\u2019s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas supply passes, would lead to widespread energy shortages across Europe.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, seve\u00adral of the world\u2019s largest energy companies have scrapped their hedging agreements, citing force majeure<\/a>\u00a0following attacks on key energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Times of\u00a0Malta, Dalli said the government\u2019s current\u00a0purchase contract\u00a0is pegged to oil prices, with \u201cEnemalta hedging from time to time according to market conditions\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Demand<\/p>\n

Hedging is a risk management tool that allows Enemalta to pay a fixed price for gas over\u00a0an extended period\u00a0regardless of market prices.<\/p>\n

Asked if clients will continue paying fixed prices after October, the energy minister said:\u00a0\u201cThe kind of contract we have depends on\u00a0what\u00a0suppliers\u00a0are offering. Enemalta is\u00a0looking at different\u00a0suppliers to get the best possible contract\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said the decision to seek out a\u00a0short-term\u00a0contract from August\u00a0is based on the advice of international experts. The government will only seek a long-term contract\u00a0by the end of next year because the market is expected to have a larger number of suppliers\u00a0and more supply of LNG.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s energy company, Enemalta, can supply a total of around 960 megawatts through several sources. Malta\u2019s total energy demand usually hovers between 400 and 550 megawatts, but can significantly increase on hot summer days.<\/p>\n

Malta\u2019s two main sources of energy come from the LNG power plant in Delimara and the Malta-Sicily interconnector.<\/p>\n

Around a tenth of the country\u2019s energy supply also comes from solar power. Other sources of energy include two diesel-powered gas turbine generation plants and standby power generators that can also be switched on in cases of emergency.<\/p>\n

A second Malta-Sicily interconnector is currently being built.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government\u00a0will\u00a0enter into\u00a0a \u201cshort-term\u201d\u00a0gas\u00a0purchasing\u00a0agreement\u00a0after Malta\u2019s ongoing hedging system expires in August, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said.\u00a0\u00a0 That agreement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-556596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}